Keller Williams announced plans to expand its franchise footprint in the Caribbean by opening a new “master franchise” in Sint Maarten on Wednesday.
According to the press release, the new franchise, which will be branded KW Sint Maarten, is expected to open during the first quarter of 2022. This will be Keller William’s sixth master franchise in the Caribbean.
“We currently have more than 1,000 agents across the Caribbean regions of Aruba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Turks & Caicos,” William E. Soteroff, the president of Keller Williams Worldwide (KWW), the international division of kwx, the holding company of KW, said in a statement.
KW Sint Maarten will be led by regional operating principal Maayke de Haan.
Haan began her real estate career in Sint Maarten in 1998. During her first 10 years in the industry she turned a boutique real estate office into one of the leading real estate companies in the country, according to Keller Williams. In 2008, Haan left her previous real estate firm and founded Antilles Realty, which will be co-rebranded into KW Sint Maarten.
“We joined Keller WIlliams for its systems and models that have proven to work all over the world,” Haan said in a statement. “We share a love for real estate and a culture of caring. Truly a win-win situation, we look forward to leveling up with KW and growing to be the No. 1 real estate company of choice in Sint Maarten.”
As of Dec 2021, KWW has 287 market centers outside of the US and Canada across more than 50 regions and has 14,847 agents operating outside the U.S. and Canada, up 23% from a year ago.
KWW is currently looking into expansion opportunities across Africa, Central and South America, Central and Eastern Europe and throughout Asia. Criteria for new licensees includes having a qualified leadership team grounded in the “Keller Williams culture,” located in an area with government, banking and judicial system stability and a higher maturity level for a real estate market.
Keller Williams is the world’s largest real estate franchise by agent count. During the third quarter of 2021, the brokerage closed nearly $150 billion in sales volume in the U.S. and Canada.