Bellevue real estate brokerage Coldwell Banker Bain trades hands again [The Seattle Times]

Apr. 20—Less than six months after announcing it would be acquired by a national title insurance company, Bellevue-based real estate brokerage Coldwell Banker Bain has been sold to the national real estate firm Coldwell Banker Realty.

The company announced the sale Tuesday, saying Coldwell Banker Realty had bought the local brokerage from US RES Holding, the investment company that bought the brokerage last fall.

Coldwell Banker Bain representatives declined to elaborate on the reasons for the shift from the previous buyer.

"Coldwell Banker Realty is a real estate company and is a better match," CEO Mike Grady said in a statement.

The shifting ownership has been a significant move for the nearly 50-year-old local company that is among the region's largest residential real estate firms. With about 1,300 agents in 37 offices, Coldwell Banker Bain had previously operated as an independently owned franchise of Coldwell Banker.

Like other traditional brokerages, Coldwell Banker Bain has faced rising pressure from startups such as Redfin and Zillow. Without naming competitors, Grady told brokers last fall that other companies' "deep capital, and lack of the necessity for profit, allows these competitors to operate in a manner traditional real estate companies would find challenging."

Coldwell Banker Bain had "searched and investigated for a long time" before announcing last year's deal, Grady said at the time.

The new sale "establishes a stronger foothold for our company," Coldwell Banker Bain told brokers this week.

Grady and other executives will stay on, and existing offices will continue with the Coldwell Banker Bain branding "for the foreseeable future," the company said.

The company did not disclose the sale price. The new owner, Coldwell Banker Realty, is owned by Realogy Brokerage Group, a subsidiary of a New York-based holding corporation that is publicly traded.

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