From Very Good to Utterly Phenomenal

By Rebecca Mashaw, Real Estate Business Magazine, June/July 2006

One Brokerage's Journey to Success

Can you run a brokerage for more than 50 years, build a sterling reputation, enjoy success and then — double your business, exceeding your wildest dreams? Jordan Baris Inc., of Northern New Jersey has done just that.

Jordan Baris, CRB, chairman of Jordan Baris Inc., has been at this real estate game for quite awhile. By the time he earned his CRB Designation in 1973 — the 383rd CRB Designee in the nation to do so — he had already logged 21 years.

Baris began selling real estate in 1950 on Long Island where he became a top-producing agent within two years. He then moved to New Jersey and in 1952, opened Jordan Baris Inc. Realtors, a one-person office, with the intent of capturing the top market share in the state's largest city, Newark. After achieving that first goal within three years, Baris continued to grow the brokerage into one of the most successful, family-run independent brokerages in the country. In the l960s, the firm expanded throughout Essex County and moved its headquarters to Irvington. Baris's wife, Marjorie, joined the firm in 1977 and son, Ken, joined in 1985. In the 1980s, a branch office opened in South Orange, while the corporate headquarters moved to West Orange. By any measure, the firm was a success. But the times were changing.