Ebby’s Acquisition of WilliamsTrew: Checkmate in Cow Town?

It’s Monday, and as I told one agent a few moments ago,  I felt like a cocktail at about 2:30 p.m. Everyone in town is talking about the historic news today that Fort Worth and Dallas real estate is, for the first time, united. For the first time, Ebby Halliday has joined forces with a dominant Fort Worth real estate firm that rounds out their presence in North Texas. Apparently the firms had been talking for years. Ebby has wanted a Forth Worth presence for a long time. The timing was perfect: this could never have happened 10 or 20 years ago when the two cities were hell bent on strongly separate brands.

And to round it out, it started with news that a major Dallas boutique broker has reached across the mid cities to bring the Briggs Freeman brand to Fort Worth.

WilliamsTrew is a luxury boutique real estate firm of 85 agents focused on selling prime Fort Worth real estate. The acquisition by Ebby Halliday, the largest independent brokerage in the United States, was a totally stealth deal, TOTALLY. Even WilliamsTrew agents didn’t know a thing until today. The word came simultaneously with news that Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty had ended a year long legal dispute, reached a settlement with WilliamsTrew, and was finally able to spread its wings west to Fort Worth.

Is this check and checkmate? Let the games begin!

 

We are living in one of the most competitive real estate markets in the country: jobs are bringing in buyers and it’s a sellers’s market. With only 2.9 months of inventory on the market as of November, brokers are beating down the doors here to attract and retain the very best agents. From the traditional 6% off the top there are gimmicks everywhere: no-fees, zero splits, guaranteed plateaus. The luxury market is among the most competitive because it nets agents — and their brokers — higher commissions.

“It’s a vibrant housing market for sure,” said Marshall Boyd, managing partner and one of the three original founding partners of WilliamsTrew. The company was created in 2000 when 13 agents joined agent Martha Williams and Joan Trew, who had left Coldwell Banker after it acquired William Rigg.

There is something about the nature of Realtors: they are fiercely independent, and not easily herded into a corporate mentality. Two weeks ago veteran industry researcher Stefan Swanepoel told us how agents, fiercely independent, make the real estate business so unique and difficult to mainstream. That is why huge corporate buy-outs almost always lead to a smattering of independent brokerages.

“Our founding agents were from different companies throughout Fort Worth,” said Martha Williams, “and all came in as experienced agents. Our culture is very similar to Ebby’s Dave Perry-Miller brand.”

WilliamsTrew has two offices in Fort Worth plus a farm & ranch division. In 15 years, very few agents have left the company, which is considered a coup for brokers. The firm has closed nearly one-half billion in real estate sales this year.

“We’ve always been the dominant company in Forth Worth,” says Martha. “We feel like its a very good fit for our company  — we are going to stay Williams Trew just like Dave has stayed Dave Perry Miller and has thrived. We will also be doing some interesting things with Ebby and Dave with farm and ranch referrals back and forth within the three brands. You’d be surprised at how much property movement there is between Dallas and Fort Worth.”

But the Fort Worth market is very different from Dallas, she says: there is not as much movement. People get to Fort Worth and tend to stay put. WilliamsTrew handles the majority of luxury sales in the TCU area, Westover Hills, and Rivercrest, specializing in west and southwest Fort Worth. They also handle a lot of ranch sales: this one is on the market for $15.9 million.

 

“North Texas is a very competitive marketplace, one of most competitive in country,” says Boyd. “With Ebbby we have two locally owned independent and dominant  brokerages in both markets. There have been people with an office here and there, but nobody has done this before.”

Though WilliamsTrew has lost its Sotheby’s franchise, it is now back with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and Luxury Portfolio International, a  “network within a network” platform that markets luxury real estate brands on an international scale, similar to Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

“Returning as a member of Leading RE Companies of the world was sorely missed,” said Boyd. “We are glad to be back.”

As for the folks at Ebby Halliday, today makes an historic move to 32 offices and three real estate brands: Ebby, Dave Perry-Miller and WilliamsTrew.

“It’s a great deal for us and rounds out our presence in the Dallas Fort Worth market,” says Ebby CFO Ron Burgert. “We were in Fort Worth a long time ago, but didn’t have the right personnel. At the time, Dallas and FW were huge rivals.”

He says the WilliamsTrew relationship will be similar to the one Ebby enjoys with Dave Perry-Miller. The acquisition will also enhance Ebby’s relocation services as Ebby can now offer full service relocation in the DFW Metroplex.

“I don’t think there’s any market more competitive than the Dallas and now Fort-Worth market, with all the players here,” said Ron. “We do quite well.”