Rich Rector, the owner of Realty Executives (our brokerage), is the cover story of the March 2011 edition of RISMedia Real Estate. RISMedia is one of the top real estate industry magazines in the USA and a well know source of what is really happening in the industry. Here is a little excerpt from the article:

R. Dale Rector founded Realty Executives in 1965 with the mission to “support entrepreneurialism for the productive real estate professional.” With the support of Dale’s wife, June, they built the No. 1 brokerage in the Phoenix metropolitan area by 1972. Today, this founding and flagship brokerage, Realty Executives Phoenix, continues to be No. 1 in its market, as well as No. 11 in the United States. Dale and June Rector’s son, Richard A. Rector, and his wife, Robyn, purchased the company and began franchising Realty Executives in 1987. Thus, a second company was born—Realty Executives International, a franchisor of real estate brokerages with more than 600 franchises and 10,000 sales associates (Executives) in 24 countries.

We are excited to see Rich Rector being highlighted on his own. For many years he had to stand in the shadow of his very famous father, now he is clearly at the helm of one of the fastest growing real estate brokerages in the world.

Much success comes from the company recognizing the power of technology and the internet. Today, Realty Executives has a set of technology tools and services that has the attention of real estate brokers and agents around the world. Rector and his team at Realty Executives International have added, as of this post, 12 new franchises since the beginning of 2011.  Here is what Rich has to say about what we commonly call the Realty Executives Tech Initiative:

“We are spearheading new technology opportunities that are ahead of the industry,” states Rector. “Ninety percent of real estate transactions begin as online searches many months beforehand and before selecting a real estate agent. Knowing this and having the tools to do something useful with the information represents one of the great opportunities of our time.”

As our clients and readers know, Ron and Gene Urban(that’s me) are agents with Realty Executives. Ron first worked for the company in the 1990’s while living in Las Vegas. Ron has a great story to say about working for Realty Executives: “I heard from the best agents that Realty Executives was clearly the finest brokerage in Las Vegas. I tried to get a job with them but they said they do not take new agents. I went back a few years later after being voted Top Rookie Agent in Las Vegas and consistently rated in the top 95%. They looked at my record and said, Now you are Realty Executives material… the rest is history.

We send our congratulations to Rich Rector for being recognized as running one of the most innovative real estate companies in the world. Glad others know what we’ve known for a long time.

Gene Urban and Ron Urban
The Urban Team
602-234-5777