When I joined DeWolfe in 1996—then the only publicly traded real estate company—I came from entirely outside the industry. That was exactly why I was hired. With full support from both the CEO and President, we set out to bring a genuinely fresh approach to Marketing, unencumbered by how things had always been done in the industry.

One of my first decisions: our advertising and client materials would feature no images of people. None. The reason was practical. The real estate industry had a well-documented history of redlining, and leading with familiar faces too often functioned as coded bias. Instead, our marketing would reflect principles we actually believed in—that every client deserved the same service, the same access, the same welcome. Watercolor-style illustrations and short, personal stories became the visual language of the brand, anchoring it in the deeply human meaning of home.

From that foundation, we went on to achieve a series of firsts, reshaping how the company and industry operated:

1996: First real estate website in New England—second in the United States

1997: First real estate brand to center its marketing on the consumer, not the agent

1998: First website to list every property for sale across New England—including competitors’—with full details, addresses, and pricing

1999: First site to offer streaming video of every home we listed for sale

2000: First online mortgage application, through a pilot program with Fannie Mae

Through organic growth and acquisition, DeWolfe grew more than threefold in less than six years. Customer satisfaction reached over 80%—against an industry average of just 25%. And, the company’s exit to Coldwell Banker included an acknowledged premium for the strength of the brand.