Realty merger creates dominant player

Last week's merger of two key players in the Lake Tahoe real estate market creates a company that has a dominant position in the Incline Village and Crystal Bay markets.

And the dominance has been growing.

Coldwell Banker Village Realty/Incline Village Realty and Tanager Realty together have had about 58 percent of the market in Incline Village and Crystal Bay so far this year.

That compares with roughly a 50 percent market share if the companies had been combined during 2005, said Tom Clydesdale, chief executive officer and president of CB/Village Realty.

After the merger, the companies will have 10 offices and 348 agents. It will handle about $1 billion in transactions annually.

The big numbers are important, Clydesdale said last week, because larger brokerages have the financial muscle to provide the services their customers need.

That extends, he said, from national and international referral networks such as those operated by Coldwell Banker to the development of technology resources and strong consumer brands.

Gordon Miles, vice president and co-owner of CB/Village Realty, started pitching the idea of a merger over a lunch with Tawney Stanton, Tanager's corporate broker business manager and co-president.

Finding some common ground, they called in what Clydesdale called "the old men" himself and Dan Schwartz, the founder and co-president of Tanager.

"We have been competitors and friends for 20 years," Clydesdale said. "And we both could see the value that a larger company would have for our clients."

Schwartz and Stanton will remain in management roles after the companies are merged.

The companies have long histories in the Incline Village market.

Incline Village Realty opened in 1961 and was one of the first 50 Coldwell Banker franchises in the United States.

Tanager, meanwhile, was founded in 1974. It posted record transaction volume of $220 million in 2005, up $16 million from the previous year.

The merger was the second in as many months in the Incline Village residential brokerage market.

In May, Reno-based Dickson Realty closed on a merger with Lake Tahoe Distinctive Properties and began rebranding the Incline Village operation as a Dickson Realty office. Dickson had acquired Incline Properties in 2001.