by Melanie Grimes

Created on: July 22, 2008

Coldwell Banker is the nations best real estate organization and they are also the nation's oldest What has set it above the competition is its commitment to excellence and professionalism. In 2003, the company celebrated the 100th anniversary of the company and its principals of honesty, integrity and service.

In 1906, Colbert Coldwell founded a real estate agency called Tucker, Lunch and Coldwell, just after the Great San Francisco Earthquake. In 1913, he invited a salesman named Benjamin Banker to join his firm. Ten years later, the firm expanded to include a Southern California office. The next expansion brought them to Arizona. Coldwell Banker grew to become a publicly traded company in 1968. Expansion continued and today's offices provide services in 47 countries on six continents, including over 600 offices outside of the United States. It has the largest geographic spread of any real estate company.

With over 100,000 sales associates, Coldwell Banker is sustained by the integrity of its agents. The company was the first to advocate Seller Disclosure before it was required by some states. It has continually sought to protect the consumer and because of this, Coldwell Banker has managed to change laws in numerous states. The company now provides both seller and buyer guarantees. In 2002, Coldwell Banker became the first national real estate company selected by the National Concierge Association to receive prestigious membership affiliation for Coldwell Banker Concierge.

Always open to innovation, Coldwell Banker was the first national real estate organization to offer online listings for its sellers in 1995. Its current online presence at www.coldwellbanker.com offers an interactive home search featuring a high-resolution bird's eye aerial photography. It was also the first to use streaming video in 2006 and now offers 3-D home tours on line at www.secondlife.com.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate won the 2007 Inman Innovator Award winner in the brokerage/franchisor category and was also named the top real estate franchise by Franchise Times. For eight years in a row they have been honored for their use of Web 2.0 resources, including streaming video, Personal Retriever widget, Home Tracker and AgentSpace. intranet site. Even their website was honored by being named one of "The Years 10 Best Intranets" report by the Nielsen Norman Group's "Intranet Design Annual 2008.

Other awards include the Asrid award. They have been awarded the J.D. Power and Associates award for having the "Highest Overall Satisfaction for Repeat Homebuyers among National Full-Service Real Estate Firms.

Coldwell Banker has supported Habitat for Humanity since the early 1990s, and made the organization the charity of choice in 1995. The Coldwell Banker "100 Homes for Habitat" campaign was named as one of five finalists for the prestigious PRNews Corporate Social Responsibility award in the "Stakeholder Engagement Category." The Coldwell Banker initiative raised more than $6 million for Habitat for Humanity and they recently unveiled a new initiative that is expected to raise an additional $4 million for Habitat for Humanity by 2011.

With its commitment to excellence, award-winning presence on the internet, and international availability, Coldwell Banker is the best realtor in the United States and beyond.

Learn more about this author, Melanie Grimes.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.