After more than 80 years of selling homes in Lakewood and greater Pierce County, ALLEN Realtors® has affiliated with Compass and will go by the name of The Harold Allen Team at Compass.
The third-generation brokerage, founded in 1940, vacated its long-time office on Gravelly Lake Drive in Lakewood in May and its iconic reader board will no longer advertise homes, promote community events, or embarrass people on milestone birthdays.
Larson said the move was the result of changing times. “Technology, particularly in the real estate industry, is moving at such a fast pace,” said Mike Larson, principal of the Harold Allen Team. “It was an almost futile situation for a smaller, boutique brokerage like ours to keep up.
“The pandemic also demonstrated that there wasn’t a need for a brick-and-mortar building. We are now totally virtual and paperless. I didn’t see any of my brokers in 2020 and we had one of our best years ever,” Larson said.
The merger allowed Larson and his team to enjoy the best of both brokerages. “One plus one ended up being more than two,” he said. “I like to say the merger of ALLEN and Compass was like putting a Lamborghini engine in a classic 1940 Studebaker,” he said. He said the merger permitted co-branding of both brokerages, important as a tribute to the company founder, Harold Allen, Sr. and his son, Harold Allen, Jr., who is also Larson’s father-in-law.
Larson and 12 of his brokers made the switch to Compass in April. Compass, known for its robust technology and support to its clients and brokers, was founded in 2012 and is the largest independent real estate brokerage in the country with more than 18,000 brokers.
ALLEN Realtors® still remains as a property management company and now operates out of a new location at 7502 Lakewood Drive SW in Lakewood.
