Coldwell Banker Acquires Waterfront Homes

NEWPORT BEACH —  Residential real estate giant Coldwell Banker bought itself a bigger chunk of Newport Beach’s luxury home market by acquiring Waterfront Homes, executives said Monday.

Coldwell wouldn’t disclose the terms.

The purchase will give the Mission Viejo-based company the top market share--18%--in Newport Beach, said Bob LeFever, Coldwell’s president. Before the acquisition, Coldwell had a 10% share, he said.

Waterfront Homes “fits our culture perfectly,” LeFever said. “The people are very experienced and very professional.”

Coldwell Banker, which already owns 14 offices with 540 sales associates in Orange County, will keep all 80 Waterfront salespeople, he said.

Gilbert and Patricia Foerster, who founded Waterfront in 1975 to specialize in luxury homes, will manage the Coldwell Banker offices in Newport Beach and Balboa Island.

The offices will offer the full range of services, including mortgage, title, escrow and relocation, as well as Coldwell Banker’s Previews Program for luxury home sales.

Bill Cote of Newport Beach’s Cote Realty Group said he does not believe the acquisition will affect other real estate brokers in the city.

“Whatever agents Waterfront Homes had will just be merged into the existing system,” said Cote, who specializes in million-dollar homes.

But Cote said he was surprised at Monday’s announcement because Coldwell officials stated several years ago that the company was more interested in franchising than acquiring.

LeFever said Coldwell officials were referring only to specific markets when they made those statements. “This is very much part of our culture and part of our plan,” he said of the Waterfront merger. “Orange County is a major market for us.”

The Foersters were unavailable for comment Monday, but Gilbert Foerster issued a prepared statement saying their customers “now have the best of both worlds--sales associates who are local market experts with the backing, support and national advertising of Coldwell Banker.”