About HomeSmart Realty Group
Judy Orr started her real estate career in 1983 with a local Century 21 franchise in Illinois. Although she stayed with the company for 22 years, she always felt something was missing.
Judy then joined a local, independent company and was with them for around 9 years. They moved out of Judy's main area so she had a decision to make. Judy's husband Jimmy Herter got licensed in 2011 and they were a husband-and-wife team.
During their search for another local brokerage, they received an e-mail notifying them that HomeSmart Realty Group was opening in their main town in IL.
That's all they needed to hear - they were struggling to find a place they wanted to hang their licenses with and once they found out HomeSmart was opening in their main area, they jumped on board. They were told that their prior independent brokerage was based on HomeSmart's business model. So they had known about HomeSmart for 9 years before joining them.
When Judy and Jimmy moved to Arizona full-time they stuck with HomeSmart. Jimmy did not get licensed in Arizona but he is Judy's transaction coordinator, driver, and all-around helper.
If you're ready to buy and/or sell, give Judy Orr a call at 480-906-1500
Below is the HomeSmart timeline - it came out a little wonky since I couldn't do any kind of screenshot using my variety of tools, so this is a copy and paste. It still shows the history from 2000 to 2021.
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July 2021
HomeSmart launches the best-in-class agent benefits program, HomeSmart Health.
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July 2021
HomeSmart grows to 23,000 agents across the network.
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April 2021
HomeSmart Ranks in the Top 10 Most Successful Brokerages in the Country on 2020 RISMedia Power Broker Report.
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March 2021
HomeSmart Announces Acquisition of PalmerHouse Properties in Multistate Deal crossing 22,000 agents.
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January 2021
Nationwide Network Grows to 20,000 Agents.
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October 2020
HomeSmart Highlights a Smarter Way to Do Business in Real Estate Magazine Cover Story
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August 2020
HomeSmart International surpasses 19,000 agents across its national network.
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March 2020
HomeSmart International holds its biggest Growth Summit yet in Las Vegas with over 500 agents and brokers in attendance.
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February 2020
HomeSmart International crosses the 18,000 agent mark across its nationwide network.
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January 2020
HomeSmart International celebrates 20 years of innovation and success!
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December 2019
HomeSmart International acquires Mid-Atlantic brokerage TriStar Realty, Inc. and its 650+ agents.
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September 2019
HomeSmart International surpasses 17,000 agents nationwide.
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April 2019
HomeSmart International releases the RealSmart Agent mobile app which offers functions similar to the web-based tool, RealSmart Agent.
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March 2019
HomeSmart International surpasses 16,000 agents nationwide and launches a geo-location based consumer search tool called HomeNearMe.com.
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June 2018
HomeSmart International releases updated New RealSmart Agent and RealSmart Broker software and successfully transitions 15,000+ agents and brokers to the improved proprietary technology platforms.
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October 2017
HomeSmart International surpasses 14,000 agents nationwide.
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May 2017
HomeSmart continues national expansion with the acquisition of large Colorado brokerage, Cherry Creek Properties and its 1,514 agents.
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October 2016
HomeSmart International is featured on the cover of RISMedia's Real Estate Magazine with Technology Sucks.
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August 2016
HomeSmart Ranked #611 Across the U.S. in All Industries on the Inc. 5000.
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September 2015
HomeSmart launches a national affiliation with Buffini & Company and kicks it off with a nationwide event with over 1000 agents in attendance. This amazing experience featured the great mentor and trainer, Brian Buffini who personally motivated the agents on how to become Peak Producers™.
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April 2015
Corporate office moves into new Worldwide Headquarters. In spring of 2015, HomeSmart moved its corporate office into a new state-of-the-art Worldwide Headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ. The new office features a 3000 square foot training facility, a tech lab, a fully functioning branch office for agents, a marketing store and more!
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December 2014
HomeSmart ranks on Entrepreneur Magazine. HomeSmart ranks as one of the top 500 franchises in the world by Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500®, coming in at #376.
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November 2014
New lighted yard signs debut on Real Estate cover. Matt Widdows is featured on the cover of Real Estate Magazine, presenting the industry’s very first lighted yard sign.
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March - April 2014
HomeSmart ranks on RISMedia Power Broker Report & Real Trends 500. HomeSmart ranks #14 for transactions and #17 for sales volume on the prestigious RISMedia Power Broker Report and ranks #12 for transactions and #15 for sales volume on Real Trends 500.
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September 2013
Phoenix Business Journal ACE Awards HomeSmart ranked for "Top Privately Held Companies in AZ" and for "Fastest Growing Companies in AZ".
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June 2013
An explosive growth year for us resulted in over 7500 agents worldwide in 13 states!
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April 2013
HomeSmart grows to 31 franchises across the U.S. reaching the East Coast in Florida and Georgia.
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November 2012
Matt Widdows was included in the "Most Powerful Men" by Arizona Foothills Magazine.
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May 2012
HomeSmart ranks in Inc 500|5000.
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March 2012
14 new franchises open tripling the previous number of offices in 2011.
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March 2012
Phoenix Business Journal ranked HomeSmart as the number one brokerage achieving $3.2 billion in sales volume.
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February 2012
HomeSmart becomes the largest brokerage in Phoenix and has 5,700 agents worldwide!
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July 2011
3rd franchise opens in Carlsbad, CA.
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August 2010
Biltmore corporate office opens at 32nd and Camelback with over 12,000 sq. ft. office space.
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March 2009
HomeSmart agent count grows to over 4,000.
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November 2008
Corporate office moves into 7000 sq. ft. in Phoenix.
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June 2008
Grew from 1700 agents to over 3100 did $2.51B in sales.
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February 2008
HomeSmart acquires Dan Schwartz Realty.
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September 2007
HomeSmart Helps begins by giving back to our communities to foster a spirit of philanthropy through various children's charities.
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April 2007
5 offices throughout the valley - closed over $1.55B in sales volume.
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September 2006
Tech Alert: Paperless transactions adopted in Arizona by AAR using barcodes, this advancement created by Matt Widdows revolutionized the paperwork process!
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February 2006
First franchise opens in 2006, Temecula, CA.
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October 2005
Tech Alert: First version of SmartTools launches with RealSmart Broker and RealSmart Agent.
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February 2005
Tech Alert: First Developer hired to write formal code for SmartTools products.
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March 2004
3rd branch office opens in Mesa expanding into East Valley. Agent counts double to 821 by year-end!
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May 2003
Corporate headquarters expands into 16th St. & Missouri doubling office space to 3200 sq. ft.
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May 2002
First Branch office opens in Scottsdale.
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January 2001
Tech Alert: Virtual Reception launches.
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July 2000
1200 sq. ft. corporate office opens at 16th St. and Bethany Home.
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January 2000
HomeSmart is born with only 2 agents.
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January 2000
Matt Widdows launched his vision to make real estate simple! The "Why" behind HomeSmart: 100% Commission and Zero Annual Fees - a model that will become the most efficient, most profitable and will serve the best product delivery by being the first technology driven real estate firm in Arizona!