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Avalar network expands with Better Homes purchase

NORTH BAY – The Santa Rosa-grown real estate franchise Avalar Network Inc. has expanded its California footprint with the acquisition of Walnut Creek-based Better Homes Realty. The deal increases the number of Avalar offices by more than 50 percent to about 190 and adds another 800 agents to the company’s network.

Better Homes includes 64 offices, with locations in the East Bay, South Bay, Central Valley and Southern California. The company has heavy concentration along the Interstate 680 corridor in cities such as Danville, San Ramon, Dublin and Pleasanton.

Avalar, meanwhile, has locations in 20 states, and its California offices are concentrated in the North Bay.

“It was a perfect fit for complementing our current office locations,” said Chuck Scoble, president and CEO of Avalar and owner of Creative Property Services, a Santa Rosa-based brokerage. “There was not a lot of overlapping that often happens in mergers.”

Mr. Scoble founded Avalar as a network of independent brokerage companies; CPS became the first of those companies. Brokerages pay about $15,000 to join the Avalar network, which includes a number of different brands. Companies have the option of keeping their own name or choosing the name of any Avalar-affiliated company.

The network is based on an automated, revenue-sharing program called Pathways to Success, for which Mr. Scoble received a patent last year. The program provides dividends to agents who help recruit new employees, and the payments increase based on the performance of the recruits. The dividends represent about 40 percent of the royalties paid by agents to the company after each home sale.

“It helps the entire culture of the sales force because you’re more inclined to help people when you’re sharing in the success,” Mr. Scoble said of the program.

According to Mr. Scoble, the program has helped Avalar continue growing its sales force by 68 percent during the past two years despite a sharp national decline in home sales.

“There has to be a compelling reason for someone to get involved with you,” he said. “Why would someone pay $15,000 and 5 percent of their income [the typical royalty paid on each sale] to work for a franchise system?”

Mark Williams, vice president of operations for Better Homes, said Avalar’s model will help improve the performance of his company, which continues to use its own internal franchise structure.

“Their revenue sharing system is something that is going to be attractive to our franchisees,” he said.

The deal will also give Greater Homes access to more markets, Mr. Williams said.

“Being part of a larger group increases chances of referrals between agents,” he said. “We now have offices that we can refer to in other states.”

Previously based in Rohnert Park, Avalar is now headquartered in Las Vegas. The move gives the company better access to the rest of the country as it eyes further expansion, according to Mr. Scoble, who splits his time between Sonoma County and Las Vegas.

“Las Vegas is such a great airport hub that it made a lot of sense,” Mr. Scoble said.

Mr. Scoble did not disclose Avalar’s revenues. Better Homes recorded $1.5 billion in closed sales during the past 12 months.

For more information, visit www.goavalar.com.

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