Royal LePage has bought three of its franchised brokerages – in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Surrey – and will run them corporately. This is the first time in a decade that the Toronto-based real estate brokerage has expanded its corporate operations outside Toronto.
“Our goal is to grow our presence in the Lower Mainland through both franchised offices and corporately owned offices,” Royal LePage senior vice-president Gino Romanese told Business in Vancouver November 20.
The three brokerages started operating as Royal LePage West Real Estate Services on November 18.
Metro Vancouver is the only area where he hinted that corporate buyouts of franchisees is likely.
The situation in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Surrey arose when the former franchisees alerted Royal LePage that they wanted to pursue different business opportunities.
Romanese explained that Royal LePage had few franchises 20 years ago and that in the past decade the company decided that partnering with local operators who would be franchisees was a priority because it enabled faster expansion.
“We’ve achieved fairly high levels of market share in many of the cities across Canada and we felt that the Lower Mainland is an area where we wanted and want to grow our presence.”
Royal Lepage has 15 franchisees in Metro Vancouver in addition to the three offices that it will be run corporately.
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