Gary Riele

Jim Walberg’s Annual Board of Director’s Meeting – A Bocce Ball Tournament

Once a year four men get together to check in on the status of their lives, both professionally and personally.  Then there is a discussion about how each of them can be of support to the others.

The definition of Jim Walberg’s “Board of Directors” is, a gathering of four friends who have known each other for more than 20 years through Rotary, and who care about each other’s lives and have participated in ALL aspects their lives – all the joy, good, bad and awful experiences.  So, this group gets together at least once a year for a day of sharing and catching up.  This is our annual “rendezvous” of the Board of Directors.  The Board includes, Steve McNichols - attorney, Jeff Turner – retired attorney, Gary Riele - commercial Realtor, and me. Read more

Gary Riele

East Bay Real Estate Mystery Is Solved! Keller Williams Realty Is Moving!

I just got the confirmation…Keller William-Danville is moving to the Rose Garden Village!

So, my commercial Realtor friend, Gary Riele has finally confirmed to me that Keller Williams – Danville is moving from the Theater Arts Building on La Gonda Way to the Rose Garden Village at the corner of 680 and Sycamore Valley Road around August 1st.  As I mentioned last week, their lease was up and they decided not to renew it because of the building owner being unwilling to be their advocate to the Town Of Danville in securing signage on the building.  KW-Danville has been in their present location for five years without any public signage letting people know they are located in that office building.  Apparently enough was enough. 

With this move it will allow KW-Danville to consolidate all of their office space on one floor – over 7,200 square feet, have a location that puts them right in the middle of the newest retails center in Danville, and get signage on the building in several areas allowing anyone driving by or driving into the Rose Garden Village that a dynamic and growing real estate company is standing ready to meet all of their real estate needs.

Keller Williams Realty is the fourth largest real estate company in North America with over 90,000 Realtors serving customers from all over Canada and the United States.  It is a company who lives by value statements that they refer to as the WI4C2TS;

• Win – Win – Or no deal.
• Integrity – Always do the right thing.  ( What one does when no one is looking.)
• Customers – Always come first.
• Commitment – In all things
• Communication – Seek first to understand
• Creativity – Ideas before results
• Teamwork – Together everyone achieves more
• Trust – Begins with honesty
• Success – Results through people
• To an industry of traditional values Keller Williams Realty brings a new pinnacle of inter-dependent beliefs and values that their Realtors follow.  I know this to be true because I have experienced for over three years.  Let me know if would like to find out more about this amazing company with a specific business model for Realtors to follow everyday.  Until next time…

Gary Riele

East Bay Real Estate – Rumor…Keller Williams-Danville Is Moving!

So, Jim Walberg was snopping around today at the Rose Garden Retail Center In Danville In order to see which businesses were moving in.  And….

I ran into Gary Riele, the partner in the commercial real estate company, Straface Riele.  I asked Gary what he was doing there and did he know who some of the other business tenants were that may be moving in.  After some significant proding, he said that one of the companies about to sign a lease was the Danville office of Keller Williams Realty – the 4th largets real estate company in North America with over 90,000 Realtors.)  Currently, the KW Danville office is located on the corner of El Cerro and the 680 freeway in the Theater Arts Financial Center.  ( This was the building that was intended to be the arts center for the Town of Danville that ended up being a front for a financial scam which caused one or more of the principles to eventually be sentenced to jail.)

Gary said the problem KW Danville was having with the owners of their current office space is the Town Of Danville was unwilling to have any signage for their company, even though they were one of the largest tenants in the building.  The Town of Danville’s position is the building was approved as a theater arts center, not a commercial center for businesses.  Unfortunately for the owners of the building, KW Danville has apparently had enough after five years of no one knowing Keller Williams Realty is in that building, so they started investigating other alternative since their lease is up next month.  They want the community to know where they are and it appears they are going to pull it off at the Rose Garden Retail Center – the newest retail center in Danville at the corner of the 680 freeway and Sycamore Valley Road.

Beverly Steiner is the one of the three owners of this Keller Williams office and she was not available for comment about what I had learned from Gary Riele.  Kristin White is the Market Center leader and she was also vague about what seems to be unfolding.  I tagged along with Gary Riele as he was walking through the office space, and it appears the KW Danville is going BIG with this move.  They are taking on 7,200+ square feet of the second floor of the building in the Rose Garden Center which has the big deck on San Ramon Valley Boulevard.  As I walked through the open space of the their future office – no walls or ceilings are in yet, I was VERY impressed!  Apparently, KW Danville is preparing for over 250 Realtors to be a part of this real estate center!

What I know about the KW business model is that they lead with revenue, and because of this model, they are not being impacted by the current adjustments happening with home sales in the East Bay.  They only spend money they actually have.  This is allowing them to make this move with the full understanding that no other real estate company in the East Bay is in the expansion mode – they are generall downsizing and/or consolidating their office locations.  Since KW Danville is expanding against the trend of companies downsizing, they are committed to fill the void that is being created by those who are creating the “open space” within the real estate industry because of closing and/or sub-leasing their office spaces.

If I was going to make a prediction, I would say that KW Danville is the company that is poised to take over the lion’s share of the real estate market because they are coming from a place of support and belief in the health of the real estate market for Realtors who still want to have this business as their career.  The KW motto is, “Building careers worth having, businesses worth owning, and lives worth living.”  How in the world could any Realtor not find that appealing as a place to grow their real estate practices.

Your East Bay real estate detective is on duty and will update you as to what I find out about this rumor.  If it is true, I will let you know immediately.  Contact me anytime for any of your real estate needs.  Until next time…