Suburban Realtor teams with Prudential

Starck Realtors, a suburban company that has touted its independent status for almost half a century, announced Tuesday it will affiliate with Prudential Real Estate.

The role of the internet in real estate has made it necessary to have a brand known not only locally but across the country and around the world, said Andy Starck, owner of the company started by his parents, Robert and Mary Jane.

Palatine-based Starck has 13 offices and more than 400 sales people.

Starck told of unsuccessfully recruiting a salesperson who was concerned that his clients in Korea had never heard of Starck Realtors. And affiliating with a brand like Prudential should increase recognition in the suburbs, too, he said.

With the soft market and the weak dollar, U.S. real estate prices can look pretty good to international buyers, said Paul Bishop, managing director of research for the National Association of Realtors.

Purchasing a franchise is just one way real estate companies are trying to weather the current decline of home sales.

Selling homes that have been foreclosed, cutting overhead by merging with other companies, getting money for originating mortgages and title insurance policies and making sure advertising dollars are spent productively are other tactics.

Brokers also must make sure their agents know how to generate business. Besides prospecting for clients, a skill that might not have been as necessary during recent boom times, agents have to deal with the gap between what sellers and buyers think homes are worth these days, said Pat Callan, president-elect of the Illinois Association of Realtors and an owner of Realty Executives Premiere in Wheaton.

Some companies are taking advantage of the economy to purchase other firms and increase their business when real estate rebounds, said Bishop.

Starck expects affiliating with Prudential will increase his company's chances of getting listings to sell homes when corporations contract with Prudential to help employees relocate.

Prudential, in the insurance business for 130 years, has sold real estate franchises for 20, said Starck. Prudential said in a statement that it has 2,100 franchise offices and about 64,000 sales people.

Some companies that sell franchises also own real estate offices that compete in local markets, said Starck, but Prudential does not.

Starck said he has been wooed by Prudential for at least a decade, but was too proud and stubborn to make such a move when the market was good.

Three local companies affiliated with Prudential have agreed in principle to merge with Starck. They are Prudential Great American Real Estate in Lake Zurich, Prudential Properties Northwest in Arlington Heights and Palatine and Prudential Crosby Realtors of Rockford.

Starck Realtors has offices in Algonquin, Arlington Heights, Barrington, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Des Plaines, Elgin, Lake Zurich, Mount Prospect, Palatine, St. Charles, Schaumburg and Rockford.