Email  Print

Pacific Union reports 19 percent growth year-over-year

Pacific Union International (PUI), which has an office in Sonoma Valley, announced this week a 19% year-over-year increase in total sales volume driven by an increase of nearly 9% in the number of homes sold and a rise in PUI client home sales prices from $900,000 to over $1.1 million in the Bay Area.
PUI's sales performance comes less than two years after the acquisition of the Bay Area residential real estate firm Pacific Union Real Estate Group by Mark McLaughlin's Marin County-based Morgan Lane Marin, Inc. Under CEO McLaughlin's direction, Pacific Union International was formed and the team of 24 Marin County-based real estate professionals combined forces with PUI's 440-person team to re-establish Pacific Union.
"With Silicon Valley innovation as a model, our goal was to create a new, client-centric residential real estate enterprise," said McLaughlin, president and CEO of PUI "We tackled nearly every key issue in the business, from brand building and business processes to team development, technology and office acquisitions as a way to solidify and grow our market position."
McLaughlin also pointed out that in the nearly two years since the merger of the two firms, PUI has achieved critical milestones-and, along the way, has recorded record sales growth even as overall market cycles in the region have been flat:
• Industry Accolades: The firm earned a top-30 U.S. brokerage firm ranking by the WSJ and Real Trends for calendar year 2010. On the heels of the industry recognition came an increase in March 2010 sales volume (+39%), average sales price (ASP  +18.5%) and number of units sold (+17%) over 2007 - 2010 performance.
 
• Market Reach: PUI was selected by Christie's International Real Estate as the exclusive agent of record in Northern California for its international client base, expanding the firm's presence globally. The PUI/Christie's relationship includes residential home sales in the six Northern California counties where PUI operates, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco and Sonoma.  Unlike other international real estate organizations, Christie's forges exclusive relationships with brokerage firms that meet strict standards of service excellence and demonstrate a proven record of success in handling distinctive properties.
 
• Team Growth: PUI has added over 40 top performing real estate professionals in the past 24 months. Of the original 440-person PUI team, only three brokers have left the firm post-merger. In Q1 2010, Patrick Barber, longtime real estate professional formerly with Sotheby's International Realty, was appointed to head PUI's San Francisco region. Barber's focus is on strategic growth and operations, agent development, marketing and community efforts for three of their 19 offices, the firm's largest region. Additionally, over the last eight months, PUI has recruited three top-ranking teams from McGuire and Sotheby's to its San Francisco office, two top East Bay teams to its Orinda and Danville offices, including the #1 real estate professional in Contra Costa County, as well as a number of top performing professionals in Marin, Sonoma and Napa Counties.
  • Service Expansion: As access to capital became increasingly difficult given tight credit and lending protocols, PUI sought out and forged a strategic partnership with Wells Fargo Bank (WFB) in Q2 2010. The joint venture, Mortgage Services Professionals, provides streamlined financing and mortgage services to PUI clients. After only eight months from its launch, the joint venture was ranked in the top-10 for 2010 performance in the United States by WFB.
 
"Our team has been focused and disciplined in our efforts create an organization that puts the client first," noted McLaughlin. "In tough economic times-and in a period in which Bay Area residential sales were down-we made a key decision to invest in growth. Those decisions have positioned us well as the market has rebounded, particularly in the higher-end markets."
Pacific Union International's Sonoma office is located at 109 East Napa Street.