North Bay Business Journal: Two Marin County real estate veterans start new brokerage

By Max Lamont
Staff Reporter

CORTE MADERA - Marin County real estate veterans Ron Parks and Jack McLaughlin, last year's president of the Marin Association of Realtors, are among the founders of Vision Real Estate, a Corte Madera brokerage firm focused on Marin County and San Francisco.

The company believes an approach that incorporates multiple agents in each transaction will distinguish the firm.

"Every agent has strengths and weaknesses," said Mr. Parks, a former CPA with Ernst & Young as well as a handful of technology startups in the Bay Area. Most recently, Mr. Parks was a broker for three years at Pacific Union in Mill Valley. "Some are good at finance and negotiations, while others excel in a sales and marketing capacity. We want to bring these different areas of expertise to all our deals."

Included in the Vision staff is Victor Fisher, a Realtor who has previously held photography editing roles at the Associated Press and was the media editor for Microsoft's online arts and entertainment guide.

To jump start Vision Real Estate, Mr. Parks purchased West Bay Properties of Corte Madera, retaining two agents and its owner, Mr. McLaughlin. Vision also hired two agents from Pacific Union, bringing the total to six agents, including Mr. Parks. The firm's founder said he expects the number to grow throughout the year, but does not want to expand past 15 agents or beyond Marin and San Francisco counties in the near term.

The firm currently has four listings and has closed on a $900,000 unit in San Rafael and a $1.6 million unit in San Francisco. Mr. Parks said he is hoping to finish 2006 with a total transaction volume of $80 million to $100 million.

In addition to his new role as a broker with Vision Real Estate, Mr. McLaughlin has been named the president of Cleanoffer.com, a Web-based service that provides buyers and sellers with access to the Multiple Listing Service of Napa, Sonoma, Marin, Solano and San Francisco counties. The company is based in downtown San Francisco, and Mr. McLaughlin plans to split his time evenly between the two ventures.

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Published: Monday, February 13, 2006