SVN president Jerry Anderson says the expansion, which beganfive years ago, coincides with the 20-year-old firm's decision tobolster its presence in the industrial and office sectors."Historically, we've been mostly in retail and multi-family," heexplains. "But more recently, office and industrial have come torepresent about 30% of our transactions. We expect that percentageto increase."

According to Anderson, the firm structured its expansion througha program that grants licenses to existing companies to operateunder the SVN banner. JBM, for example, now operates asJBMRA-Sperry Van Ness Institutional. Anderson says the arrangement,which the Federal Trade Commission formally regards as a franchisebusiness, provides more than the network organization provided bycompanies like Corfac or NAI. "SVN presents a very unified frontcompared to a network," he asserts. "We have much stronger policiesand procedures to make sure all our offices deliver consistentservice."

Before the JBM acquisition, SVN enhanced its US marketpenetration with offices in Chicago, New York City, Denver andSeattle. It also began an international expansion, adding licenseesin Costa Rica and Panama. Anderson says the firm will be meetingsoon with prospective SVN licensees in the Middle East.