Gallo Realty joins Berkshire Hathaway Home Services

Scores of Realtors and well-wishers gathered in Wolfe Point Jan. 9 to celebrate Gallo Realty joining Berkshire Hathaway Home Services as a full-service real estate agency in coastal Delaware.

This collaboration is the culmination of a months-long effort by Gallo Realty to bring the real estate franchise to Sussex County, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Gallo Realty Vice President Andrew Ratner said.

"This new franchise is the most respected company in the world, according to Barron's," Ratner said of Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by Warren Buffet and out-did Apple in the financial magazine’s 2013 honors.

He said the technology platform, tools and resources platform offered by Berkshire Hathaway should be a big boost for agents and clientele at the Gallo firm.

Long established in the Cape Region, Gallo Realty, founded 35 years ago by husband-and-wife Realtors Sal and Bette Gallo, has grown to service the real estate needs of coastal Delaware with three offices and more than 80 sales professionals.

"Sal and I started this ourselves in 1979 with no secretary," Bette said at the celebration party as Sal reminisced about the "good old days of no overhead.Things have changed a lot since then. Lewes, Rehoboth and Bethany were barely on the map."

The formal change to Berkshire Hathaway came Jan. 9, and with it, Berkshire Hathaway Gallo Realty representative Kay Carnahan said hundreds of real estate signs for properties in Sussex County were to be changed that morning.

"We are offering the same sales and rentals under a new corporation," Carnahan said. "We remain the same people with the same great services and a new company name."

The transition of Prudential Gallo Realty to Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Gallo Realty makes the local company among the first affiliates in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Gallo Realty remains an independently owned and operated company.

At a company luncheon to celebrate the transition, ribbon cutting and sign unveiling Ratner discussed the impact of this change.

“We have been the market-share leader in Sussex County the last couple of years, and our new brand will help us expand our resources and marketing tools to continue as the number one brokerage,” he said.