Pacific Union Executive Vice President Gus Ruelas (left) with Pacific Union L.A. President Nick Segal.
Pacific Union International, the West Coast’s leading luxury real estate brand and the eighth-largest real estate brokerage in the United States, announced its brand launch in the Los Angeles market. The move into Southern California marks Pacific Union’s largest expansion yet and unites a founding team of more than 900 real estate professionals from three Los Angeles luxury brokerages — John Aaroe Group, Partners Trust and Gibson International — under the Pacific Union International brand.
“To have that kind of leverage is really super exciting,” said Gus Ruelas, the executive vice president for Pacific Union’s Southern California offices who formerly served as vice president and regional manager with John Aaroe Group. “We overlapped in some marketplaces but not all of them, so to be able to ally with those two companies just provides a tremendous amount of leverage for our agents and our clients.”
Nick Segal, former CEO and founder of Partners Trust, will lead Southern California as president of Pacific Union L.A., overseeing 20 offices across the Greater Los Angeles market.
“Pacific Union’s launch in Los Angeles is a truly historic move that unites L.A.’s most esteemed and highest-producing real estate professionals under one name with best-in-class technology, marketing, data and research,” Segal said. “This dream team of 900 real estate professionals sharing core values and a commitment to teamwork, trust and innovation will provide the absolute best client experience possible. And we now all proudly share the same company name, Pacific Union International.”
Pacific Union now has more than 1,700 real estate professionals across 51 offices throughout Northern and Southern California, projecting sales volume of $18 billion in 2018. In 2017, Pacific Union became the leading independent real estate brokerage in California, the result of two years of aggressive growth uniting five powerhouse firms, and it is now the top independent brokerage in Los Angeles. The brokerage’s Southern California markets include Beverly Hills, Malibu, Downtown L.A., the Westside, Northeast L.A., and the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys.
“What it means for Pasadenda and La Cañada Flintridge is that we have the No. 1 market share in both of those markets, and that’s a big deal because that’s never happened before an independent company,” Ruelas said. “Usually, it’s a big national brand that ends up with the larger market share.
“Market share provides us a tremendous amount of leverage, the visiblity of signage, and only ‘For Sale’ signs and ‘Open House’ signs can do that for you.
“And if you’re a buyer, if you’re working with an agent who has access to listings before they hit the market, every little advantage for a buyer is a good thing.”
Collectively, Pacific Union’s real estate professionals in Los Angeles closed more than $6.8 billion in real estate sales in 2017 and hold record sales. The highest sale in La Cañada Flintridge was $10.6 million.
Ruelas said Pacific Union is able to tailor their service according to the community.
“We have the ability to make local decisions,” said Ruelas, noting that the Old Pasadena office regularly hosts local nonprofits at no charge. “You can make a different decision in La Cañada Flintridge than you would in Pasadena, or than you would in Beverly Hills. It’s not one size fits all like you oftentimes get with the larger brands.”
For additional information, visit pacificunionla.com.
