Coldwell Banker is a large real estate franchise owned by Cendant, which also owns Century 21 Real Estate and ERA Real Estate. The company was founded in 1906 in San Francisco after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake by Colbert Coldwell as Tucker, Lynch, and Coldwell and is thus the oldest real estate company in the United States. In 1914 Benjamin Arthur Banker was invited to become a principal. In 1920 the company becomes Coldwell, Cornwell, and Banker. Bruce Cornwell resigned in 1940 and the company took its present name. The company expanded throughout, and in 1952 opened its first office outside California.

It changed from a partnership to a corporation in 1961 and had an initial public offering in 1968. In 1981 it was acquired by Sears Roebuck and grouped with its financial companies Allstate Insurance and Dean Witter in the Sears Financial Network. It was taken private again in 1993, and sold to HFS, Inc. (later Cendant) in 1996.

External links

• Coldwell Banker web site
• Coldwell Banker Online web site
• Coldwell Banker timeline