Real Living is a family business. Our roots go back more than 50 years. We don’t answer to Wall Street or to investors who don’t understand our industry. We answer to our franchisees, agents, employees and customers.














We honor our past and own our future.

We understand exactly what it takes to grow a real estate business from scratch, take risks, grow and prosper. We’ve done it ourselves.

Our story began like so many others in real estate. Our founders, men of principle, opened their first brokerage offices in the 1950s. Harley E. Rouda, Sr., in Columbus, Ohio, named his HER Realtors; Joe and Vince Aveni, in Cleveland, called theirs Realty One.
By the 1980s these men oversaw businesses that were not only successful, but also remained true to the values of family, innovation and results upon which they were created.

In 1991, Rouda was elected President of the National Association of REALTORS®. Joe Aveni became Chairman of the Realty Alliance.

Times were good.

By the late 1990s, however, the real estate business was changing. Wall Street conglomerates and private equity firms absorbed scores of family real estate businesses. Companies that had become trusted local institutions were now run by faraway masters.

We chose a different path.

In 2002, Harley E. Rouda, Jr. – the second-generation owner of HER Realtors – together with partner Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, creator of the brand, put together a deal that united HER and Realty One. Real Living was born. True to the spirit of its roots, Real Living would continue to offer its agents and employees a lifestyle built on values of family, innovation and results. And it would offer its customers everything the future had in store for real estate. A great and innovative buying and selling experience. The spirit was infectious.

Phenomenal growth ensued. How could it not? In an industry where you can’t tell one company from another, Real Living stood out as different. It had an identity, one that resonated with people inside and outside of real estate.