After 31 years of selling real estate, in mostly tonier neighborhoods, Fred Sands Realtors is uniting with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
In a deal that is called a merger, but what some analysts say is actually a buyout of Sands by Coldwell, all Sand’s offices, including the Malibu office and one in Topanga, but not including 40 franchised-operated offices, will operate under the Coldwell name in a month.
This completes the near take-over of the real estate market in Malibu, leaving Coldwell with 80 to 85 percent of the local market.
Previously, according to estimates, Coldwell had 50 to 55 percent of the local market, with Sands having approximately 30 percent. Prichett-Rapf & Associates has approximately 10 percent of the market.
Of 180 active agents in Malibu, 145 are now under one company, according to Rick Wallace, an agent for 13 years with Fred Sands of Malibu.
“I think everybody is generally accepting of it,” said Wallace of the announcement Friday. “Things change.”
In a continuing trend of corporate takeovers, National Realty Trust, Coldwell’s parent company, acquired Brentwood-based John Douglas Co. in 1997, after Douglas dissolved its relationship with Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. With this recent merger, Coldwell will now have an estimated control of 18 percent of the Southern California market.
Fred Sands, 62, who has a 4-month-old child and married a few years ago, will operate as vice chairman of the combined company, leaving the day-to-day operations behind him.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, Sands cites newer technology as one reason for joining Coldwell. As a regional brokerage company, Sands said they would never be able to compete in the newer type of market.
He also said that with a shortage of listings in such a hot market, by being part of Coldwell they would have a much larger database with which to work.
Coldwell is the Southland’s No. 1 real estate brokerage company, while Sands, until now, was No. 2.
For now, concerns about agents losing their jobs are not being voiced, as well as concerns about competition with Coldwell from the remaining smaller realty companies in Malibu.
The Malibu Sands office has been one of the highest-producing offices in the Sands system, according to several real estate associates.
Several agents said they are comfortable with the merger, saying one reason Coldwell acquired them is to pick up additional experienced brokers.