Fred Sands Realtors Expanding to Capitalize on Migration From L.A.

Fred Sands, president of Fred Sands Realtors, wants to take advantage of the continued migration of Los Angeles County residents into Ventura County.

His company’s recent acquisition of Brown-Realtors, the residential arm of Joe Brown Realty Co. of Westlake, and an agreement to convert Camarillo’s Mason-Churchill Realty Inc. into a Fred Sands franchise on Dec. 1, signifies the beginning of his planned expansion into Ventura County.

“In recent years the migration has been accelerating. The movement is north and west out of Los Angeles County,” said Sands. “A lot of people are moving to Ventura County because of the lifestyle and the lack of crime.”

The giant real estate agency, with 43 offices and 1,600 agents throughout Southern California, intends to open another four or five Ventura County franchises in 1996. Sands already has offices in Ventura, Simi Valley and Westlake, which will merge with the Brown-Realtors operation. Sands has been in Ventura County since opening in Westlake in 1980.

Following the recent merger, most of the approximately 10 full-time employees of Brown-Realtors will continue with Fred Sands. The 60 real estate sales agents who work with Brown will continue to work with Sands as independent contractors.

Because of his company’s strong presence in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles, Sands said many people moving to Ventura County already have a long association with his firm, something that should improve local home sales.

“We’ll be referring a tremendous number [of clients] to Ventura County,” he said. “It will be a lot easier to sell your house.”

Randy Churchill, who helped open his brokerage 23 years ago, said attaching the Fred Sands name to his company--which will now be called Fred Sands Mason-Churchill Realty Co.--should, indeed, enable him to reach more Los Angeles-area clients.

“We have always tried to attract people from the San Fernando Valley, especially since the earthquake, and now with Metrolink providing more opportunities for people to move out farther from where they work,” he said. “This will allow us to have a stronger image and a strong referral business in that area.”

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Churchill’s business partner, Bill Mason, said the anticipated referrals made the deal especially attractive. “It’s the difference between a client just driving into this area and seeing our signs and ads, and the client having a transaction with Fred Sands down south, already giving us control of that client base.”

As for Brown-Realtors, officials there said the residential real estate business has gotten a bit too advanced for their 37-year-old, family-run operation to remain highly competitive.

“The real estate industry and the brokerage business are always going through changes . . . You have to stay on the cutting edge to continue to be a leader,” said Joe Brown, the 70-year-old owner of the company. “Fred Sands has 1,600 agents, international networking, in-house marketing.”

And the competition among real estate salespeople heated up this year as demand for homes dropped 22.8% through Aug. 31. According to the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project, 3,775 Ventura County homes sold in the first eight months of the year, down 1,118 transactions from the same period last year.

Despite the slump, Ventura County is still considered a quality place to live, and Brown said Fred Sands should be able to capitalize on that reputation.

“The county has its fundamental values in terms of being a place to live, a place to work, and it has an ambience that’s priceless and appeals to people over and over again,” he said. “I’m bullish on Ventura County.”

The Brown family has a consulting agreement with the newly formed Fred Sands Brown-Realtors, but will concentrate on its own independent commercial real estate operation, Brown Property Management, in Westlake. Brown Property Management will operate out of the former Joe Brown Realty Co. office at 875 S. Westlake Blvd., and Fred Sands Brown-Realtors will have its headquarters at the old Brown-Realtors office at 883 S. Westlake Blvd.

Mary Hall, president of the Conejo Valley Assn. of Realtors, said the recent transactions by Fred Sands are unlikely to affect the overall residential real estate picture in Ventura County.

“I’m sure they hope it gives them a stronger market position, but the reality is that for many, many years Brown has had a strong presence. Whether you call it Brown or Fred Sands, it will still do a certain amount of business,” she said.

“We are not an area, like some, where one or two companies are doing 60% to 70% of the business, and I don’t think that’s going to change.”