Oakdale real estate firm expands in merger

Century 21 M&M gains Endsley, 3 other offices

By J.N. Sbranti

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Oakdale-based Century 21 M&M and Associates has acquired Turlock's Coldwell Banker Endsley & Associates and three Century 21 offices in Santa Clara County.

The mergers, announced Tuesday, will boost the number of M&M real estate agents to more than 1,200 spread over 11 Northern California counties.

M&M's expansion will create several new jobs at its Oakdale headquarters, but it also will cause staff cuts in Turlock and Santa Clara County, said John Melo, M&M's chief executive officer. Melo said the new jobs will be in Oakdale's call center, finance, marketing and information technology departments.

All of Endsley's more than 50 real estate agents will join M&M's staff, and its East Main Street office will remain open. M&M also will keep its current Turlock office on Geer Road, which has about 65 agents.

Endsley & Associates has been run by Bob Endsley since 1977, and he will stay on as M&M's Turlock community liaison. Neil Weiss, who became Endsley's minority partner in 2005, will become the office manager.

"When you've been in the real estate industry for as long as I have, changes in the market and in the way business is done are only natural," Bob Endsley said.

"If you're smart, you learn to adapt. In today's real estate market, the abundant marketing resources offered by a large organization like Century 21 are not only alluring, but critical to reaching today's tech-savvy, on-the-go consumer."

Melo would not disclose terms of the acquisition other than to say "there isn't a lot of cash exchanging hands." He said real estate company consolidations are the result of economic turmoil and the realty market's evolution.

"This economy is being hard on all small businesses," said Melo, whose company reportedly sold 6,898 properties worth $1.138 billion last year. Endsley & Associates reportedly sold 642 properties. "It's hard for small companies to compete in this environment. It takes a lot of money."

Because it is so large, Melo said M&M can take advantage of economies of scale to more easily cover overhead costs — such as for Web sites and mobile technologies — that are cost prohibitive for smaller firms.

Melo, who lives in Oakdale, and his partner Larry A. Matos, who lives in Merced, founded their company in 1994 in Turlock. With Tuesday's acquisitions, they now have offices in 23 cities selling residential, commercial and agricultural properties.

M&M also took over the Century 21 Champion offices in San Jose and Cupertino and the Century 21 El Camino office in Sunnyvale. The Santa Clara County offices have nearly 500 agents.

Century 21's worldwide President Rick Davidson flew in for Tuesday's announcements. "These are smart guys," Davidson said of Melo and Matos. "M&M has played from a position of strength. ... From a business perspective, there's no better time to expand (than during a slow economy)."

Last year, M&M was the largest franchise in the Century 21 chain. According to Century 21, the 39-year-old company is the world's largest residential real estate sales organization with 7,700 offices.

Bee staff writer J.N. Sbranti can be reached at jnsbranti@modbee.com or 578-2196.