Get ready to see more red circles around town. Brookfield Residential Property Services announced this morning that it will merge two of its recent purchases, GMAC Real Estate and Real Living Network Services, into one company called Real Living.
Brookfield was required to replace the GMAC name after buying the company from GM in September 2008. Real Living was an attractive brand, in part because the it had developed a focus on women clients, which it viewed as “the primary decision maker in a home buying transaction,” the Financial Post reports.
One way or another, this means Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate will see some rebranding in the near future, although communications director Suzanne Boose says the words “Koenig & Strey” won’t be going anywhere. KSGMAC had been a Brookfield-owned company until two months ago, when it was sold to Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary HomeServices of America, but it continued to have a connection with Brookfield as a GMAC franchise. (Got that?)
Real Living isn’t a major player in Chicago right now but does have a foothold in the market — the company has a couple of franchise offices, Real Living Helios in the West Loop and Real Living Infinity in Lincoln Park, and 59 agents in the city, according to its Web site.