Century 21 Real Estate is an American real estate franchise brand founded in 1971 by real estate agents Art Bartlett and Marsh Fisher in Orange County, California. The pair pioneered the idea of uniting independent local brokerages under a single national brand with shared marketing and training, and the gold-and-black Century 21 identity became one of the most recognized names in residential real estate. The system grew quickly through the 1970s and 1980s and expanded internationally, and today the brand encompasses roughly 14,000 independently owned and operated franchise offices with well over 100,000 sales professionals across more than 80 countries and territories, giving it one of the largest global footprints of any real estate brand. Century 21 offices handle residential home sales as their core business, with many franchisees also active in commercial real estate, property management, and relocation services. The brand refreshed its visual identity in 2018 with an updated gold seal logo and the tagline built around relentless service. Century 21 has changed corporate hands several times: it was owned by Trans World Corporation and later Metropolitan Life before being acquired in 1995 by HFS Incorporated, a predecessor of Cendant. Since Cendant's 2006 breakup it has belonged to Realogy, which renamed itself Anywhere Real Estate in 2022. Anywhere, a publicly traded company headquartered in Madison, New Jersey, also owns the Coldwell Banker, Sotheby's International Realty, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, and Corcoran brands. The century21.com site serves as a consumer search portal for listings from the brand's affiliated brokers.
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