Two real estate firms merge

MOSES LAKE — The merger of two major local real estate firms has formed one of the largest real estate companies in the Columbia Basin.

Moses Lake-based Gary Mann Real Estate, founded in 1983, and Team Up Real Estate have formally merged and become Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Mann Realty. According to a press release, the new company has a 20 percent market share in the Columbia Basin.

“This merger definitely is an opportunity,” said Jason Hall, managing broker and owner of the combined company. “We definitely have a substantial share of the market.”

The companies have been operating together since Gary Mann bought Team Up in 2011. The merger formally integrates the two companies and their 30 agents under one brand, Hall said.

Hall has been a licensed real estate broker for the last 30 years.

He said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the related restrictions imposed on the showing of homes with masking, disinfecting and social distancing rules, sales have remained strong.

“We had a glitch right as COVID hit and thought it would impact us worse than it did, but for reasons I cannot determine, we’re ahead,” Hall said.

“In June, we did 92 transactions, and that’s huge,” he said. “All our sales are up.”

The median price of a home in Moses Lake is around $225,000, much less than the national median of $284,000, according to a news release from New Jersey-based real estate franchiser Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.

The combined company “will continue to support the community including its ongoing efforts with the region’s Chamber of Commerce, Boys & Girls Club, Grant County 4-H, Habitat for Humanity, New Hope and the local school system,” the company said in a press release.

Hall added this statement on the merger and the Moses Lake community:

“The tools, programs and resources Better Homes and Garden Real Estate offers will be critical in boosting the productivity of our agents and helping them to build successful businesses. We were also drawn to the BHGRE brand because it has automatic name recognition and fits our values where home and family matter so much. Moses Lake has grown dramatically, and we are no longer just a stopover. We continue to have people move here from the west side of the state to get away from crowds of Seattle, along with those from California.”

Look for a fuller report in an upcoming edition of Columbia Basin Herald.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].