When the leaders of Proper Real Estate, a widely recognized unaffiliated brokerage in Long Beach, California, were ready to scale their business, they saw the value in aligning with a brand that attracts and serves productive agents.

Accordingly, in May, Proper Real Estate rebranded to RE/MAX Proper, positioning 77 agents with new resources to build their businesses. RE/MAX Proper leadership – CEO Paul Natividad, COO Jenny Pok, and CFO Mike Sanchez – were just getting started.

Four months later, RE/MAX Proper acquired renowned All Nations Realty in Rancho Cucamonga, a town nearly 60 miles northeast of Long Beach. The acquisition brought another 126 agents into RE/MAX Proper, lifting the total to over 200 entrepreneurs, all serving Southern California buyers and sellers inland and along the coast.

“Real estate brands are all different, and the key is to find the brand with values you align with,” Natividad says. “For us, that’s RE/MAX.”

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‘RE/MAX is innovating’

The leadership trio at Proper Real Estate each brought relevant industry experience – some with major brands – to the table when they initially chose to operate without affiliating with a national name. Natividad spent nearly two decades in real estate franchising, Pok has been in the real estate industry for over 30 years, and Sanchez is a recognized business entrepreneur.

Even with a thriving single office, though, they wanted to grow. They saw the competitive advantages of scale and a household brand name. Any hesitancy – especially over the ability to maintain their cohesive and caring office culture – subsided once they began considering RE/MAX.

“I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into business with a big brand. But here we are now, happy with RE/MAX, especially with their all-new branding and their approach of allowing the franchisee to customize business however they need to in order to run a successful brokerage,” Pok says.

“You don’t get that with a lot of other companies.”

RE/MAX Proper is an agent-centric brokerage – that’s always been a cornerstone value for their business. The co-owners tout how brand affiliation is now an asset their agents can leverage.

“I’m always teaching our agents to work by referral. Now, having the backing of the RE/MAX brand, we can skip the part of having to convince people we’re amazing at what we do. Everybody already knows RE/MAX is amazing – they’ve been around for 50 years and have stood the test of time,” Pok explains.

Natividad also notes other ways the affiliation helps benefit their agents.

“Our group was pleasantly surprised at how RE/MAX is innovating. I like the fact that RE/MAX offers the MAX/Tech powered by kvCORE platform – that’s a big part in our joining of the brand,” Natividad says. “[Some major brands] don’t strive to give agents best-in-class tools and services. Many of our agents have used the platform before, but RE/MAX has a better version of it with more robust tools.”

He continues, “Plus, the fact that we can leverage The RE/MAX Collection and RE/MAX Commercial is helpful for our agents who serve those markets.”

“We will continue growing our community of collaborators”

In addition to the support they received while onboarding, the leaders of RE/MAX Proper worked with a division of RE/MAX dedicated to helping brokerages facilitate smooth acquisitions. That’s how they were able to connect with All Nations Realty and determine if the acquisition was a good fit.

All Nations Realty was a longstanding brokerage with a dominant presence in Rancho Cucamonga. The large, unaffiliated office operated for nearly two decades under founders Richard and Nova Dahler, local real estate legends who had a track record of running brokerages, including one for Century 21. Former President Ronald Reagan even visited All Nations Realty for real estate assistance in the area.

Honoring the brokerage’s prominence in the local market, Natividad, Pok and Sanchez are maintaining the top-producing legacy while equipping the additional 126 agents with the latest RE/MAX tools and resources.

“Sometimes when people think about acquisitions, they misconstrue it for a takeover. We’re not like that at all – we’re going to keep everything that’s great about All Nations intact. We’re here to enhance business for agents and grow this company to the next level,” he says.

“The agents in Rancho Cucamonga and the agents in Long Beach now have an extended network of trusted people they can go to for referrals and bounce ideas off of. We’ll continue helping each other be better every day.”

The leaders of RE/MAX Proper are busy maintaining the influence of two offices integral to their communities, while implementing the advantages of the RE/MAX brand for sustainability and further growth.

“We want to have corporate support with a boutique feel, and RE/MAX allows us to have that. It’s a great alignment for all of us,” Natividad says.

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Written by LEAH CURTIS 

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