United Country Real Estate
| Company type | Real Estate Network |
|---|---|
| Industry | Real Estate |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Headquarters | Kansas City , United States |
Number of locations | 511[1] |
| Website | http://www.UnitedCountry.com |
United Country Real Estate is a franchise-based real estate marketing organization. The company provides leads to affiliated realtors that pay a franchise fee. It operates 1,400 websites that target local markets and the websites collectively obtain 2.9 million monthly unique visitors.[1] It also publishes catalogs and listings, pays for advertising, creates brochures, provides office space and computer systems and support.[2][3][4]
United Country Real Estate was founded in 1925 with a focus on farms and ranches in rural towns[1] by Roscoe Chamberlain out of a Kansas City bank. It published the first rural properties catalog in 1928,[2] which was put on display at the Smithsonian in 1981.[5] Founded under the name United Farm Real Estate, it changed names to United National Real Estate to reflect its expansion into suburban neighborhoods in 1986.[6]
The company was acquired by a management group in 1990 and changed its name again to United Country seven years later.[2] United Country Real Estate had approximately 150 franchises by 1997 and 300 by 1999.[2] This grew to 700 franchise members by 2007, when Dan Duffy and his investment partners acquired the company.[7] As of 2013, it has 4,000 participating real-estate agents.[8]
In 2010 the organization raised $1 million in funding to expand its web presence for suburban areas with a local population of 50,000 or more.[9] Two years later United Real Estate was launched, which built "United Lounges," which provide an office facility for affiliated realtors, in Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington.[3]
References
- ^ a b c Stratton, Kelly (August 1, 2012). "United Country Real Estate Expands Netowrk in Costa Rica". National Real Estate Investor. Retrieved June 3, 2013. Cite error: The named reference "one" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b c d "Companies to Watch: United Country Real Estate". Realtor Magazine. November 1999. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
- ^ a b Swanepoel, S.; J. Conaway; R. Hahn; M. Cohen; M. Davison; T. Mitchell (2012). "The United Lounge". Swanepoel.
- ^ Evans, Mariwyn (October 2009). "Let the Bidding Begin". Retrieved June 7, 2013.
- ^ "United Farm's 1928 Catalog Accepted by Smithsonian". Kingman Daily Miner. October 18, 1981. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
- ^ "Behind the Counter". The Union Democrat. May 23, 1986. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
- ^ Davis, Jim (March 23, 2008). "Pastoral Living: United Country Real Estate Cultivates Residential Buyers with Allure of Green Acres". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
- ^ Our History, United Country Real Estate, retrieved June 7, 2013
- ^ Klaus, Krista. "United Country Raises $1M to Develop Urban Real Estate Websites". Kansas City Business Journal.