Led by Co-founders and President, Scott Gibson, and Executive Vice President Pat Heller, independent boutique luxury brokerage Gibson International has 160 real estate professionals in four offices in Brentwood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, and Marina del Rey. The brokerage is forecast to deliver a 2017 sales volume of $1 billion.
Gibson International will continue to operate under its current name until early 2018 when it will assume the Pacific Union International brand. In the interim, the brokerage’s real estate professionals will begin incorporating Pacific Union’s innovative marketing and business intelligence assets into its real estate practice. Gibson International recently was honored by Inman as an outstanding national leader for its innovative business practices, making the partnership with Pacific Uniona strong fit, and the firm also has been ranked on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list for the past three years.
“When Pat and I made the decision to look for an additional investment partner we knew we wanted to find a group that shares our same values,” Gibson says. “We are a people-centric firm with a culture that provides great value to our real estate professionals. Pacific Union shares this same commitment to its team, and we’re excited to build upon that shared value.”
The two West Coast brokerages share history as well. Pacific Union has been an investor in Gibson International since 2015. “In truly an unprecedented way, the residential real estate landscape in Los Angeles will change starting Jan. 5, 2018, when Gibson International, John Aaroe Group, and Partners Trust—along with Empire Realty Associates in Northern California—will rebrand to Pacific Union,” Pacific Union CEO Mark A. McLaughlin says. “Our real estate professionals and their clients will benefit from the unified brands.”
“We have a strong belief in Scott’s exceptional leadership and team,” McLaughlin continues. “His brokerage’s strong position on the Westside of Los Angeles makes it an ideal partner for Pacific Union as we realize our vision to become the ultimate California real estate company.”
In addition to a robust array of innovative sales tools, a Chinese Concierge office in Beijing, the dedicated China website pacificunion.cn, and business-intelligence analyses from Chief Economist and Ph.D. Selma Hepp, Gibson International will benefit from Pacific Union’s global digital marketing campaigns.
Pacific Union’s international digital branding campaign directly markets our prominent listings to real estate investors in the leading international markets of China, India, Brazil, and the U.K. Since its launch in 2016, the campaign delivered more than 187 million global impressions and 621,000 international site visits to pacificunion.com. In November, the U.K.-based International Property Awards named Pacific Union International “Best California Real Estate Brokerage” for its innovative global marketing practices.
This is the fourth geographic expansion for Pacific Union in the California market in the last year following its mergers with Contra Costa County-based Empire Realty Associates in November, Beverly Hills-based Partners Trust in August 2017 and John Aaroe Group in December 2016.
In 2017, Pacific Union became the largest independent luxury real estate brokerage in California. The union with Gibson International expands the San Francisco-based brokerage to 51 offices in Northern and Southern California with more than 1,600 real estate professionals.