Realtor Darren James is expanding his Livingston Parish-based firm, Darren James Real Estate Experts, and plans to open nine new satellite offices next month across southeast Louisiana.
The Nov. 1 opening of the new offices will coincide with James’ new partnership agreement with a national real estate company that has cloud-based franchisees around the country.
James says he is not yet ready to disclose the identity of his new partner, but that it will enable his rapidly growing, five-year-old brokerage to expand even further.
James’ new offices will be small with one or two employees in each. They will be located in East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston, Tangipahoa and St. Tammany parishes.
James, a 15-year veteran of the industry who went out on his own with the opening of his Denham Springs office in 2011, says he has long been planning his expansion into the New Orleans and North Shore markets. The August flood, which damaged much of the Livingston Parish housing market, helped speed up his decision.
“We’re not leaving Livingston Parish,” he says. “But with the flood taking out a lot of our inventory in Livingston we decided it was time to go deeper into Baton Rouge and head east to expand our market.”
—Stephanie Riegel Â
