United CountryReal Estate is a franchise-based real estatemarketing company. The company provides leads, marketing programs, advanced training and technology solutions to affiliated realtors that pay a franchise fee. It operates more than 3,000 websites targeting local markets. The websites collectively obtain 2.9 million monthly unique visitors. The franchise system provides vast support in terms of marketing, technology and training. From a marketing standpoint, United Country publishes catalogs and listings, pays for advertising, develops marketing programs, creates brochures, postcards and email content, provides office space and computer systems and support. The company also offers an in-house real estate advertising agency, "Enhanced Marketing Solutions". It also does so by its focus on rural real estate as opposed to urban and suburban real estate.
History
United Country Real Estate was founded in 1925 with a focus on farms and ranches in rural towns by Roscoe Chamberlain out of a Kansas City bank. It published the first rural properties catalog in 1928, which was put on display at the Smithsonian in 1981. Founded under the name United Farm Real Estate, it changed names to United National Real Estate to reflect its expansion into suburban neighborhoods in 1986. The company was acquired by a management group in 1990 and changed its name again to United Country seven years later. United Country Real Estate had approximately 150 franchises by 1997 and 300 by 1999. This grew to 700 franchise members by 2007, when Dan Duffy and his investment partners acquired the company. In 2010 the organization raised $1 million in funding to expand its web presence for suburban areas with a local population of 50,000 or more. Two years later, United Real Estate was launched, which built "United Lounges," which provide an office facility for affiliated realtors, in Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington. As of 2013, it has 4,000 participating real-estate agents. In 2015, the company partnered with McCarthy Capital Fund V to expand plans for growth. Existing management increased its ownership as part of the transaction and will remain in place without exception. Today, the company operates under the name United Country Real Estate and specializes in "lifestyle", country and small town properties around the country and in Mexico and Central America.
