“Our reputation is built on our legacy of trust.” —Noreen Smith
With the North Bay’s real estate market showing signs of roaring back to life, Frank Howard Allen Realtors expects its 2013 sales to top last year’s figure of nearly $2 billion, depending on how inventory increases this spring and summer. That’s the outlook from Noreen Smith, president and COO of the company that received this year’s award for Best Company to Do Business With in Marin County.
“Buyers want to buy now because prices are going up,” she adds. “It’s anyone’s guess how much inventory will come on the market in the next few weeks, but I can see 2013 as being another good year for us.”
Not many companies in any industry can boast being in business for more than 100 years, yet the 103-year-old Frank Howard Allen, with 20 offices in Marin, Sonoma, Napa and San Francisco counties, has endured. “There’s only one other real estate company that’s been around almost as long,” says Smith, who believes the firm’s trustworthiness and appeal as a longstanding, independently owned and operated brokerage plays a huge role in its continued success.
“Our reputation is built on our legacy of trust,” she says. “Plus, we’ve been the market leader in the North Bay decade after decade, and being a local, privately owned brokerage is important to people in the counties we serve. Because we don’t pay out-of-state franchise fees, what we earn stays in our communities. The money people pay us to sell their homes goes right back into their own cities and towns. So doing business locally is a really big deal to us.”
That dedication extends to the company’s support of the local business community, such as when it decided to relocate its San Rafael office into the San Rafael Corporate Center on Lindaro Street. Smith says Frank Howard Allen used local vendors whenever possible for the remodeling of the new space, including telephone and furniture companies, painters and carpenters. The company is on track to occupy the new office in late May or early June.
The move into the Corporate Center should be a better fit for agents and the company’s clients, Smith says. “We’d been in our prior location [at Fifth and Tamalpais streets] for 10 years, spread out over two floors. Now we’ll be in a beautiful, Class A office building that clients will love to visit. The entire staff will be on the ground floor, and the space is geared toward assisting our agents in the more ‘mobile’ way their work is done these days.”
Companywide, Frank Howard Allen Realtors contracts with 400 agents to service four Bay Area counties. It employs 60 people in supporting departments such as accounting, relocation, information technology and marketing. Yet the company’s expertise in real estate doesn’t end at the county lines. Last fall, it launched its International Services Division to connect foreign investors with local real estate opportunities, and to match local investors with properties overseas. “Real estate has become more international, so we have a group of about 20 local agents who’ve traveled extensively and/or speak other languages and are focusing their real estate expertise abroad,” explains Smith. It’s a way to create additional revenue for agents while also offering a valued service for clients, she adds. “We’ve always had international exposure through our affiliations with Luxury Portfolio International and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, but this new division enhances our expertise even further.”
Frank Howard Allen is committed to giving back to the communities where it conducts business, says Smith. “And we do it constantly––it’s always on the top of our minds.” Some nonprofit organizations that receive its donations are: Youth in Arts in Marin, Marin Center for Independent Living, Homeward Bound of Marin, COTS in Petaluma, Redwood Gospel Mission and F.I.S.H. in Sonoma.
“Every month, we get requests for donations from different groups and organizations, and we look at each request and do what we can to fulfill it,” says Smith. “That speaks not only of the company but also of our agents, who donate both time and money.” The company also has a matching grants program with its agents, she says, so each office picks its own charity and funds are deducted from paychecks. “Then we match those funds. That’s the culture within our company.”
