Disrupting Residential Real Estate in Silicon Valley
Company: Sereno Group
Industry: Real Estate
Client since: 2010
I appreciate the fact that the bank actually recognizes the fight we've fought, what we've done and where we are now. That acknowledgement is really important to us in a banking partner.
Sereno Group does things differently. It might seem trite to describe a company based in Silicon Valley as “disrupting” a traditional industry – in this case, buying and selling residential real estate. But that is exactly what Sereno Group has accomplished.
Launched in 2006, Sereno Group started with one office in Los Gatos, California, and 27 agents. Today the company has 10 locations in communities across the Bay Area, nearly 400 people companywide,and the business is on track to reach $3 billion in sales in 2017 – its best year yet.
What really sets this industry leader apart is the company’s dedication to sound environmental practices and its out-of-the-box philanthropy program – 1% for Good, inspired by the founders of Patagonia. The company launched the program in 2012 and donates 1% of gross revenues to local charitable causes and since then has contributed roughly half a million dollars a year.
“The thing I am most proud of – other than the amazing people that we get to work with every day – is the giving that our people do. So the one ranking we will brag about all day long is our place on the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s list of Top 50 Corporate Philanthropists. When I see our company up there with massive, international corporations, it just makes me so proud,” says CEO, Chris Trapani.
Having a banking resource that understands his company’s unique values, vision and history is important to Trapani. “Bridge Bank has been with us from the beginning. I appreciate the fact that the bank actually recognizes the fight we’ve fought, what we’ve done and where we are now. That acknowledgement is really important to us in a banking partner.”
“One of the main reasons I’d recommend Bridge Bank is that there’s a personal attention and there’s a care for us as individuals and for our company. They are willing to go the extra mile and that gives us a level of confidence with our business, knowing that they’re in this with us.”
Download our Sereno Group client story.