Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate Receives Diversity Award

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1364336513Pleasanton, CA – Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate received top honors as the winner of the national Diversity award, given by parent company Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate at the annual convention in Las Vegas. Ellen Osmundson, Director of Diversity, was there to receive the award.

BHG Mason-McDuffie Real Estate is one of the only real estate companies that has an established diversity initiative, which includes training agents to work with Asian investors. In a company of 1200+ agents and 29 offices, there are 40+ languages, including sign language, spoken among its agent population.

Ed Krafchow, Chairman and CEO of the company, had the vision to position the company to be the leader of diversity. “As a Bay Area based company, it’s important that we effectively serve the international community in their goal to buy real estate here,” said Krafchow. “Ellen Osmundson brings a unique set of talents to our company that has strengthened our collective ability to work with foreign buyers and thus increase our global business.”

Ms. Osmundson provides training on diversity to ensure that agents in the company are equipped to serve clients from all cultures. “International buyers have strong buying power, and they are growing in numbers, especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Osmundson. “But they need the guidance and counsel of a professional REALTOR so they can make educated decisions based on information on the market, schools, daily shopping, transportation and the community.”

Ellen brings more than 16 years as a REALTOR to this position. She is a former columnist on real estate for Sing Tao Real Estate Guide and the author of American Home Ownership: The Chinese American Dream. Her language skills in Chinese - Mandarin and Cantonese - have helped her Chinese speaking clients from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong understand the transaction process in the United States.

About Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate

Our heritage began with the founding of Mason-McDuffie Real Estate in 1887. In 2010, the company was named the 19th largest real estate services firm in the nation (REALTrends 500), and Number Two in the San Francisco East Bay (SF Business Times). The company provides comprehensive solutions to home buyers and sellers, and handled 6,500 transactions in 2012, generating $2.8 billion in sales volume. Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate includes joint ventures with partners Highland Partners in Piedmont and Montclair, Wine Country Group Realtors in the North Bay, and Tri-Valley Realty in Pleasanton-Hopyard and Ruby Hill, and Bahay Co. in Concord. Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate is locally owned and has more than 1,200 real estate professionals with 30 offices in eight counties in the Bay Area and the Tahoe/Truckee region. For more information, go to www.bhghome.com.