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Warren Buffett's new franchise seeks identity
November 11th, 2012, 1:00 am by Jeff Collins
Earl Lee, a long-time executive for Irvine-based Prudential Real Estate, has been tapped to lead a joint venture seeking to form a new national real estate brand. The venture, called HSF Affiliates, was formed when Warren Buffett's HomeServices of America partnered with Prudential's parent firm, Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management. Irvine is the new venture's headquarters. We asked Lee to describe the challenges ahead for this new venture …
Us: What is HSF Affiliates?
Earl: HSF is the holding company, it's the joint venture company, that three brands are currently housed in. That is Real Living, Prudential and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
Us: What does HSF stand for?
Earl: It doesn't really have a meaning. It's an acronym. Again, we have a joint venture company that has three brands in it.
For us, the first challenge was getting a branding decision out there that was acceptable to our network. I think we accomplished that very well. Now it is beginning to build a value proposition, working on the visual identity, really being able to bring to life what that franchise is and what it will mean to the individual companies that will choose to franchise with us.
Us: What do you mean by “value proposition?”
Earl: People buy franchises because they look for value. You know, can this help me with my business? Can this help me with services that I don't have? Does it allow me to expand the markets that I might not have been in? Value is all about the (suite of products and services that come with a franchise).
Us: What will the visual identity be? The new chain has a long title.
Earl: We're still working on that, but obviously, it has to translate well into business cards, lawn signs, open house signs, how it looks on the Internet. We're working on that. We obviously have a very talented brand agency, Interbrand, helping us, and we expect to be able to roll that out in 2013.
Web Resource: http://www.ocregister.com/lansner/strong-447270-earl-new.html
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Warren Buffett's real estate network,
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices,
to debut in Portland.
Web Resource for article:
www.oregonlive.com
company’s name behind a new chain of
real estate companies assembled last year,
and the change comes to Portland this week.
Prudential Northwest Properties,
a Portland real estate services company
acquired by a Berkshire Hathaway
affiliate in 2012, will adopt the
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
brand starting Wednesday. The company
will be ceremonially unveiling its new
for-sale yard sign in the morning, then
swapping out signs all around the
Portland area the same day.
The Oracle of Omaha doesn’t typically put
Berkshire’s name on consumer-facing brands.
Instead, the conglomerate owns brands like
Geico, Dairy Queen and the BNSF railroad.
"It's very exciting that for the first time
Mr. Buffett is going to lend his brand, the
most respected brand in the world, and he’s
going to give that brand to the real estate industry.
And we get the privilege" of adopting it,
said Jason Waugh, president of
Prudential Northwest Properties.
Waugh said only the top 75 firms in the
Prudential network would be invited to join the
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network,
which is rolling out in markets across the country
through next year. His firm will be known as
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Northwest Real Estate.
Prudential Northwest Properties, which now has
20 offices and 400 employees, was the largest
locally-owned real estate services firm in the
Portland area before it was bought in 2012.
It’s gotten smaller since its acquisition, when
it had 21 offices and roughly 500 employees.
“We saw a lot of people get out of the business
from 2008 to 2012,” Waugh said. “It’s starting to
become more of an attractive business this year,
but we haven’t yet seen an influx of new people.”
-- Elliot Njus
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