SACRAMENTO REALTY MAKES MAJOR MOVE INTO FRANCHISE ARENA AS WEICHERT, REALTORS® - GALSTER GROUP

Sacramento/Fair Oaks, Calif., January 30, 2012—Broker Steve Galster and Realtor Sue Galster, owners of Galster Real Estate Group in Fair Oaks, have announced that their seven-year-old agency is now an independently owned and operated franchise with Weichert Real Estate Affiliates (WREA).

Newly named WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Galster Group, the office at 5006 Sunrise Boulevard, Suite 100, in the Sacramento community of Fair Oaks, is home to 25 career Realtors and a full-time staff. The company is in its third office since starting out as “just the two of us,” Steve Galster said. “We keep moving to bigger and better facilities, both to improve our service to clients and to accommodate our still growing sales team.”

Galster also said that “improving the opportunities for their agents to succeed” was among the reasons for joining Weichert. “With the support that Weichert is known for—to brokers and agents alike, we can easily compete for listings as well as top sales talent,” he said.

Galster pointed out that Weichert provides both in-person and online education. Marketing support to agents and brokers and the company’s relocation outreach are also “worth shouting about.” The Weichert Lead Network sends leads directly to Weichert agents from consumers who call into the Weichert call center as a result of viewing listings on line, enabling agents to be reached within minutes of the inquiry from any place in the country. The company’s website, www.Weichert.com, consistently ranks as a top site among all real estate companies for the length of time that visitors spend at the site, according to HitwiseÒ, which monitors the activity of major websites.

Weichert Senior Vice President Bill Scott traveled from the East Coast to make an in-person introduction of the company to its newest franchise owners and their staff and agents. “We are proud to welcome Steve and Sue’s company,” Scott said. “They have earned a solid reputation in the Sacramento area as principled professionals who really care about their clients.”

The Galsters call themselves real estate “lifers” and “near-native” northern Californians. They are active members of the Sacramento Association of REALTORS® (SAR). Steve is a member of the SAR Charitable Foundation Board, a non-profit, Regional MetroList MLS Committee member, and he is currently secretary-treasurer and soon to be president-elect of the SAR Masters Club, an organization of the top 10% of all high achievers in the membership.

WREA announced its first affiliate in January 2002 and by 2005 was identified by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the fastest growing franchises in the nation. To date, offices have opened in some 300 markets in 36 states. The parent company, Weichert, Realtors®, is one of the nation’s largest privately owned providers of real estate and home ownership services.

 WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Galster Group can be reached at 916-966-8700.