From ashes to world's largest real estate franchise

As Winston Churchill once said: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Among the optimists after the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco were a college dropout named Colbert Coldwell and a travelling salesman named Benjamin Banker. Seeing promise where many others only saw chaos, the young men's drive led to the creation of one of the most venerated names in worldwide real estate: Coldwell Banker.

On April 18, a hundred years ago, Downtown San Francisco was levelled - there was nothing left. The massive earthquake struck at 5.12 a.m. while most San Franciscans were still in bed. An estimated 6,000 people were killed and more than half of the city's 400,000 residents ended up homeless.

Benjamin Banker went to San Francisco just after the earthquake as a meat slicing machine salesman from Illinois, working for a Chicago meat packing company. With all the hotels destroyed, he had to sleep in an old boarding house. And to make matters worse, most of the city's butcher shops were destroyed, so he was left with little business.

But while looking for some new ways of making a living, Banker stumbled on a part-time job selling plots in an area of San Francisco called Visitacion Valley.  He sold four on his first day and was instantly hooked. He took a job with a real estate company called W.B. McGeary and that's where fate played its hand - the firm was located in the same building where a young 23-year old U.C. Berkeley dropout had also set up shop as a real estate broker. His name was Colbert Coldwell.

Coldwell, in fact, had got into the real estate business earlier than Banker, having established the firm Tucker, Lynch and Coldwell immediately after the quake with the goal of introducing what was a new concept in the real estate business at the time: ethics.

The new firm was based on the principles of honesty, integrity and service. However, Coldwell's first partners soon left the firm, leading to the partnership, formed in 1913, that was to transform the real estate business.

During the quake, most of the public records were destroyed in the fire. People had little or no idea who owned what. So unscrupulous brokers would put up false 'For Sale' signs on a pile of rubble and tried to profit from the sale of properties that weren't theirs to sell, while also duping clients to reap as much in commissions as they could finagle.

Coldwell emphasised that no one in his company could personally profit from the sale of a property. The buyers were the ones to benefit of all profit and the company represented the seller for a standard commission only.

Coldwell Banker became a major residential real estate company in 1968, when it purchased Forest E. Olson Inc., bringing in 450 employees and 30 offices in Southern California, and Henry Broderick Inc. in Washington State.

That same year, Coldwell Banker became a publicly traded company. By 1976, the company had real estate offices from coast to coast in the US. In 2001 Coldwell Banker opened its first offices in Europe, namely Spain and Ireland.

To date, the list also includes Holland, Portugal, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, and Malta. Coldwell Banker expects to announce estate agency openings in UK, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland and Austria shortly. 

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation is the largest real estate and hospitality franchisor in the world with more than 3,800 independently owned and operated residential and commercial real estate offices, and over 124,000 property consultants in 33 countries .

The prestigious Franchise Times magazine has continuously ranked Coldwell Banker the number one brand in real estate and number eight overall among all franchisors from among the likes of McDonalds, Burger King, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and Holiday Inn.

Today, Coldwell Banker Malta continues the tradition started by Coldwell and Banker approximately a century ago.

The first branch in Attard will be opening on May 14. Coldwell Banker Real Estate Services Malta forms part of the Famalco Group of Companies.