A Massachusetts company that calls itself the region’s largest residential real estate operation is growing bigger, with the first of several acquisitions planned for the Rhode Island market.
The publicly held DeWolfe Companies, Inc., of Lexington, Mass., late last month agreed to acquire the privately owned J.W. Riker Real Estate of Warwick for an undisclosed price. The sale is expected to go through this month. The combined companies will have 88 offices in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, and about 2,225 employees. (The company also has a corporate office in Maine.) Those figures include 225 people working in 17 offices owned by J.W. Riker.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
Richard B. De-Wolfe, chairman and chief executive officer of DeWolfe, said his company hopes to purchase other Rhode Island real estate companies as part of “an aggressive growth strategy to be the dominant player in every major New England market.”
“We expect to merge with other small agencies who could benefit from merging with us,” DeWolfe told reporters at a Jan. 22 press conference.
Gilbert P. Bricault, J.W. Riker’s principal owner and chief executive officer, called the combination of J.W. Riker and DeWolfe “an equation where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Both DeWolfe and J.W. Riker provide brokerage, mortgage and relocation services limited to residential transactions. The acquisition means J.W. Riker customers will also have access to insurance and moving services offered by DeWolfe.
In the past, “a real estate office did just one thing. They sold real estate,” DeWolfe said. “We’re not in the real estate business. We’re selling home ownership and everything that goes with it.”
The company saves the customer time and money “by owning the businesses that provide those services,” he said.
In recent years, that economic principal has led to rapid consolidation within the real estate industry nationally, with large corporations buying up independent companies and turning them into franchises, according to Susan Arnold, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
The DeWolfe deal is somewhat different in that its acquisitions bear the parent company’s brand name, Arnold said. J.W. Riker, too, will take on the DeWolfe name. However, that won’t happen for at least a couple of months, according to Paul J. Harrington, DeWolfe’s chief operating officer.
At least for now, Rhode Island remains a refuge for independent Realtors, with about 300 of the association’s 500 members being independently owned, Arnold said.
“Statistically, there are probably more offices that are independent than those that are part of a franchise” in Rhode Island, Arnold said. “But there is a national trend to go bigger and Rhode Island is certainly a part of that.”
As for the future, Arnold predicted more mergers “and a very strong niche market for the small independents” limiting their business to a geographical area within the state.
DeWolfe will also provide J.W. Riker with the necessary capital and resources to get up to speed technologically, Bricault said. “Our Web site alone represents an investment of a number of people,” he said.
DeWolfe (AMEX: DWL) had gross revenues of $108 million for first nine months of 1998, according to Security Exchange Commission filings. The company said it handled over 19,000 transactions worth more than $4 billion in home sales last year.
J.W. Riker said it generated gross revenues of $12 million in 1998, from 2,800 transactions worth $300 million in real estate sales.
Following the acquisition, Bricault will become a vice president of DeWolfe in charge of Rhode Island sales.
