Five years ago, Pearson Smith Realty had only 17 agents. It has since grown to conduct $4.1 billion annually in real estate transactions.
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United Real Estate Group is bringing one of the nation’s fastest-growing regional brokerages into the fold, expanding its agent count by 1,000 in the District of Columbia and nearby states.
The merger with independent brokerage Pearson Smith Realty will expand the Dallas-based network’s reach to 21,000 agents and 630 offices, United announced Friday in a news release.
“While other companies are shrinking or pulling back on expansion, United continues to make the necessary investments for smart growth into the future,” United President Rick Haase said in a statement. “Our alliance greatly strengthens our existing operations along the East Coast.”
In 2021, Pearson Smith Realty tallied $4.1 billion in sales, ranking 98th nationally in Real Trends. United Real Estate adds this to its existing portfolio, which recorded nearly $14.3 billion in sales last year as the 8th-ranked company in the nation.
That represented one of the biggest hauls that year for a real estate company so young. In 2017, Pearson Smith had 17 real estate agents, according to United’s release. Five years later, that number has ballooned to more than 1,000.
As part of the merger, Pearson Smith will continue doing business under its own name, and will retain its existing leadership team. It will serve clients alongside United’s existing regional office in the Washington, D.C., area.
Agents at Pearson Smith will also gain access to United’s national referral network, technology systems and other resources.
The merger is part of United’s fast-paced expansion efforts, which the company says are not finished.
Prior to the announcement, United had been courting the brokerage’s ownership for nearly a year, the company’s CEO Dan Duffy said in the release.
“For every ten brokerages we consider investing in, we move forward with less than one,” Duffy said. “We are really excited to incorporate a number of Pearson Smith Realty’s best-in-class offerings into our national agent and broker programs.”
Previously, United has announced similar deals with Platinum Realty, Leading Edge Real Estate Group, Texas United Realty, Virtual Properties Realty, Benchmark Realty, and Charles Rutenberg Realty Fort Lauderdale. The company is also working on others that have not yet been announced, according to the release.
