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First Place Real Estate joins Northwood Realty
By GRACE WYLER
Warren
First Place Real Estate has left its partnership with Coldwell Banker to start a joint venture with a Pittsburgh-based real-estate firm that is looking to expand in the Mahoning Valley.
First Place Real Estate will begin its partnership with Northwood Realty Services today under Northwood’s name.
The new entity will be the largest real-estate brokerage in the Mahoning Valley, said Steve Lewis, president and chief executive officer of First Place Financial Corp., the Warren-based parent of First Place Real Estate. As of the merger, the group will market 936 listings in the region.
“It is certainly no secret that there are simply too many companies for the size of the pie,” Lewis said. “There needed to be some consolidation, and we needed to be a part of that.”
First Place elected to end its relationship with Coldwell Banker because it no longer needed the franchise support, Lewis said. Northwood is a local company that can provide many of the services that Coldwell Banker offered, he said.
Northwood has been operating in western Pennsylvania since 1956.
The firm expanded into the Mahoning Valley in 2008 and has offices in Boardman, Canfield, Howland and Salem.
The merger more than doubles Northwood’s share of the regional market, said Wendy West, a spokeswoman for the firm.
The new brokerage will operate six offices in the Mahoning Valley, with 188 agents.