Berkshire Hathaway opens Sonoma County real estate brokerage

The new business has three offices and 80 agents in the county. It will be based out of Santa Rosa, with a pair of offices in Sebastopol and Windsor.|
ROBERT DIGITALE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The state's largest female- owned real estate brokerage, a part of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices real estate brand, has come to Sonoma County, the partners announced Tuesday.

Danville-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties has taken over three existing real estate offices and has a total of 80 agents operating in the county. The brokerage has 1,100 agents and 44 offices in San Francisco, Napa, the East Bay, Sacramento and portions of the Central Valley and Nevada.

Brokerage president CEO/President Gretchen Pearson said in coming to the North Bay, she brought in for the first time a regional partner, veteran real estate broker Paula Gold- Nocella.

“It's a special place and I needed to get someone with roots here to make it work for us,” Pearson said.

Gold-Nocella is a partner in the brokerage operations in San Francisco, Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties and will be the broker of record for all 44 offices.

The brokerage will appeal to many who respect the Berkshire Hathaway brand, overseen by company chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, said Gold- Nocella, who previously worked as a manager for Vanguard Properties and for Prudential California Realty. But it also will feature local ownership, “which is what people really want in real estate.”

The opening of the brokerage was first announced Tuesday at the weekly breakfast meeting of the North Bay Association of Realtors in Santa Rosa.

In coming to the county, the brokerage is taking up residence in three former Better Homes Realty offices, including the flagship location at 917 College Ave. in Santa Rosa. The other two locations are Sebastopol and Windsor.

Both Gold-Nocella and Chuck Scoble, majority owners of the local Better Homes Realty brokerage, formerly CPS Real Estate, said nondisclosure agreements prevented them from releasing further details of changes in offices or agents.

The California Association of Realtors recently honored Berkshire Hathaway Home- Services Drysdale Properties as the state's largest brokerage owned completely by women, Pearson said.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 707-521-5285.

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