Dunn Joins GVA Worldwide, Daum Departs

Faulkner comments that, "It's very difficult in this day and age to be just a regional firm and not have some way to tap into business either across the country or across the globe." He tells GlobeSt.com that the affiliation has already provided benefits in the form of new business for Dunn, and that the locally based firm also expects the affiliation to help in a number of other respects, including its efforts to recruit new talent.

Despite the rise of huge national and international real estate services firms, Faulkner says, a number of regional companies continue to do well, and the GVA connection will link Dunn to some of the strongest of those firms. He cites GVA Williams in New York, GVA Advantis in Atlanta and GVA Kidder Matthews in Seattle.

Having an affiliation with a strong New York firm is especially important, according to Faulkner, who observes that, "Southern California is very much a receiver market for business coming out of the East Coast, and we feel that GVA has the strongest New York partner of all the networks." He also cites the international connection the network provides via GVA Grimley in the UK.

The new affiliation will make Dunn more attractive to industry pros considering a switch, Faulkner adds. "As the big firms get even bigger, we're finding that there are a lot of good people in those organizations who don't want to be part of the biggest firm in town, they just want to be left alone to do their own business." At the same time, Faulkner says, "We had to become part of a national platform in order to be attractive to those people."

Dunn and former GVA affiliate Daum rank among the oldest commercial real estate firms in Southern California, Dunn going back to 1921 and Daum having started in 1904. Charles Dunn Co. maintains four offices throughout the Greater Los Angeles area, and Daum Commercial Real Estate Services has 11 offices throughout Southern California and Arizona.