Wardley Real Estate Announces Change in National Affiliation to Benefit Agents, Clients in Local Market

LAS VEGAS – Wardley Real Estate, a prominent local brokerage, has ended its affiliation with a high-profile national firm in order to refocus its resources to “better benefit agents and create the best total experience for our customers,” its president said today.

“We’ve concluded our relationship with Coldwell Banker in favor of a new association with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World,” Jeff Sommers said. “We strongly believe the money we would have spent with Coldwell Banker going forward can be invested much more productively here in the Las Vegas community. We are committed to providing our agents and clients with the ultimate real estate experience. Simply stated, we are ‘Positively the Best Decision in Las Vegas Real Estate.’”

Sommers noted the move is significant because it marks an evolution by one of the region’s survivors in the industry’s recent restructuring in the wake of the deep national recession and housing crisis.

“The landscape has shifted significantly. Several major players in our market aren’t here anymore. Several large firms have filed for bankruptcy. A lot of Las Vegas brokerages have gone out of business,” he said. “We’re a local company that provides jobs to more than 300 people. We’ve stayed in there, kept plugging away and kept people employed. We’re going to come out of this market stronger than ever.”

Lynn Wardley, the local firm’s owner announced the move to his 300-plus agents and employees on Thursday. Leading Real Estate Companies of the World is a global network of 550 of the best-known local and regional real estate firms with 4,600 offices and 140,000 sales associates in the United States and 30 other countries.

Sommers said, “Ultimately, real estate is a local business. LeadingRE is the largest network of brokers and agents but it doesn’t spend its money running nationwide ads to build a national brand. Instead, its focus is on helping clients relocate from one market to another. Anyone who lives in Las Vegas knows that a tremendous percentage of our residents come from other cities and states. Leading RE will better help us connect people moving to Las Vegas.”

He continued, “The only reason to buy or sell a home is to get to a better place, whether it’s a bigger place, a downsized home or a more economical situation. Still, getting from where you are to where you want to be can be very stressful,” explained Sommers, who has been in the real estate business since 1982 and with Wardley since 1993. “We want to eliminate that stress and make the real estate experience an exciting event.”

Sommers describes the new relationship with LeadingRE as “the best of both worlds for our clients and agents.” Agents will have a clear competitive edge with state-of-the-art tools and systems in working with the large number of number buyers in the Las Vegas market and with clients who are selling homes and moving both within Las Vegas and to other cities and states.

LeadingRE President/CEO Pam O’Connor notes that the company is the latest in a long list of former franchisees to affiliate with the network.  “We are seeing more and more firms that recognize the value of our model, which combines the advantages of operating as an independent company with the benefits of global services and connections,” O’Connor said.  “We are especially excited to welcome the Wardley team, as the name has been long associated with quality real estate.  We are pleased to support their growth as a locally-owned and branded real estate organization.”

Wardley started his firm in 1974, growing from a start-up to the largest, most-successful brokerage in Utah with approximately 1,700 agents and 22 offices. In 1998, he purchased a small brokerage in Denver and grew it to more than 1,000 agents by 2001. That same year, he was inducted into the Better Homes & Gardens Hall of Fame, an elite group comprised on less than 1 percent of the top brokers in America.

In 1999, Better Homes and Gardens approached Wardley to start a Las Vegas brokerage to replace a firm that had changed franchise affiliations. His first move was to purchase the Real Estate School of Nevada, the state’s most-established real estate school, because he believed the key to industry success is training and education.

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