A sign we'll likely be seeing more and more of in the coming months.

The word is out?Rubloff has been acquired by one of the fastest growing real estate companies in Chicago, Prudential Preferred Properties. Prudential Preferred has been growing quickly and this purchase makes it is one of the five largest real estate companies in Chicago.  The company will operate under the name Prudential Rubloff Properties and will have 17 offices and nearly 900 agents and staff. The terms of the transaction have not been made public.

The acquisition is another sign of the volatility in the business of real estate as well as the real estate market today. Medium-sized real estate brokerages are finding this economy tough to withstand and are being gobbled up by the larger companies. Many small boutiques and brokerages with niches which tend to have lower overhead seem to be able to hang on during this economic downturn, but medium-sized brokerages with more expenses are having a harder time.

What Will the Rubloff Agents Do?

When talking with Rubloff agents, we are hearing concerns. As is the norm with this type of merger, Prudential should be ready some unhappy agents. Rubloff agents are not used to franchise fees, which Prudential does have to charge. Rubloff agents are also used to a lot of free marketing materials (virtual tours and open house signs to name two) that in the past Prudential has charged their agents for. As always, there will be a culture gap and it will be interesting to see how the new combined management team bridges it.

This is a pivotal time in real estate; Darwin’s theory is most definitely playing out before our eyes. Expect more of the same as the summer real estate season ends and cash flows at brokerages slow down.