Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage acquires 250-agent Sun City, Ariz., brokerage, Ken Meade Realty.

Ken Meade Realty’s 250 sales associates will continue to operate out of the company’s six existing offices as Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

The acquisition further expands Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s presence outside of the metro Phoenix and Tucson markets into the Northwest Valley.

10 years ago, Ken Meade Realty was famous in the Valley real estate community for NOT being members of the Phoenix MLS. They pretty much owned the Sun City market and they apparently wanted to keep other agents out of their territory.

They didn’t cooperate with non-Ken Meade agents who wanted to sell homes listed by Ken Meade agents. They apparently wanted their Ken Meade agents to get both sides of the transaction, both the sell side and the buy side.

Of course, sellers eventually became concerned that they weren’t getting the most amount of money for their homes if Ken Meade wouldn’t cooperate with the vast majority of agents in metro Phoenix and their buyer clients.

Ken Meade eventually joined the Phoenix MLS and so agreed to work equally with all agents who are members of the local MLS.

I always thought of their closed system as a throwback to a much earlier time in real estate.