Latest news with #KWW
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Keller Williams Expands to Singapore
AUSTIN, Texas, July 16, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keller Williams Realty, LLC (KW), the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count, is expanding across Asia. As momentum continues, KW has awarded a new master franchise in Singapore. As of June 30, KW has 22 market centers and 1,196 affiliated agents across Asia. "We are thrilled to welcome KW Singapore to our KW family," said William E. Soteroff, president of Keller Williams Worldwide (KWW), the international division of KW. "As our growth across Asia continues to gain momentum, Singapore represents a dynamic market where our models and culture will thrive." Led by Regional Operating Principal Melvin Lim, the KW franchise in Singapore is currently initiating operations. In Q3 2025, KW® Singapore is expected to open its first market center. Lim brings to KW® Singapore 16 years of real estate experience spanning residential sales and brokerage operations. Currently, he serves as the co-founder and CEO of PropertyLimBrothers, a full-service real estate brokerage operating in Singapore. "Melvin and his PropertyLimBrothers team bring a proven track record of innovation, leadership, and success in the Singaporean real estate market," said Soteroff. "We're confident they will set another powerful benchmark for KW's expansion across Asia." Lim is also widely recognized for pioneering the use of video home tours in Singapore as a powerful marketing strategy. "I aspire to watch KW systems and models shape the Singaporean housing market by empowering real estate agents to think like entrepreneurs," said Lim. "It is exciting to see how the KW brand has attracted 50 recruits even before the official launch of KW Singapore." Singapore marks the eighth KW master franchise in Asia. The brand's other seven regions include Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, and India. As of June 30, KWW has more than 270 market centers (outside the U.S. and Canada) across more than 60 regions. KWW has more than 17,500 affiliated agents collectively operating outside the U.S. and Canada. KWW is currently exploring further expansion opportunities across Africa, Central and South America, Central and Eastern Europe, and throughout Asia. Core criteria for new licensees start with having a qualified leadership team grounded in the Keller Williams® culture; KWW also strives for stability in the government, banking, and judicial systems, and a higher maturity level in the real estate market. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, KWW's regions include Albania; Argentina; Aruba; Bahamas; Belize; Bermuda; Bolivia; Bonaire; Cayman Islands; Colombia; Costa Rica; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Delhi NCR, India; Dominican Republic; Dubai, UAE; El Salvador; France; Germany; Greece; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Luxembourg; Malaysia; Mexico; Monaco; Mongolia; Nicaragua; North Macedonia; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Romania; São Paulo, Brazil; Saudi Arabia; Scotland; Serbia; Singapore; Sint Maarten; Slovenia; Southern Africa; Spain; Suriname; Thailand; Turkiye; Turks and Caicos; United Kingdom; Uruguay; and Vietnam. About Keller Williams Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams Realty, LLC is the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count. It has more than 1,000 market center offices and 162,000 affiliated agents. The franchise is No. 1 in units and sales volume in the U.S. Since 1983, the company has cultivated an agent-centric, technology-driven, and education-based culture that rewards affiliated agents. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Media Contact: Darryl G. FrostDirector of Public Relations and Media / 254-466-3627 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
16-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Keller Williams Expands to Singapore
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Keller Williams Realty, LLC (KW), the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count, is expanding across Asia. As momentum continues, KW has awarded a new master franchise in Singapore. As of June 30, KW has 22 market centers and 1,196 affiliated agents across Asia. 'We are thrilled to welcome KW Singapore to our KW family,' said Soteroff. 'As our growth across Asia continues to gain momentum, Singapore represents a dynamic market where our models and culture will thrive.' Share 'We are thrilled to welcome KW Singapore to our KW family,' said William E. Soteroff, president of Keller Williams Worldwide (KWW), the international division of KW. 'As our growth across Asia continues to gain momentum, Singapore represents a dynamic market where our models and culture will thrive.' Led by Regional Operating Principal Melvin Lim, the KW franchise in Singapore is currently initiating operations. In Q3 2025, KW® Singapore is expected to open its first market center. Lim brings to KW® Singapore 16 years of real estate experience spanning residential sales and brokerage operations. Currently, he serves as the co-founder and CEO of PropertyLimBrothers, a full-service real estate brokerage operating in Singapore. 'Melvin and his PropertyLimBrothers team bring a proven track record of innovation, leadership, and success in the Singaporean real estate market,' said Soteroff. 'We're confident they will set another powerful benchmark for KW's expansion across Asia.' Lim is also widely recognized for pioneering the use of video home tours in Singapore as a powerful marketing strategy. 'I aspire to watch KW systems and models shape the Singaporean housing market by empowering real estate agents to think like entrepreneurs,' said Lim. 'It is exciting to see how the KW brand has attracted 50 recruits even before the official launch of KW Singapore.' Singapore marks the eighth KW master franchise in Asia. The brand's other seven regions include Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, and India. As of June 30, KWW has more than 270 market centers (outside the U.S. and Canada) across more than 60 regions. KWW has more than 17,500 affiliated agents collectively operating outside the U.S. and Canada. KWW is currently exploring further expansion opportunities across Africa, Central and South America, Central and Eastern Europe, and throughout Asia. Core criteria for new licensees start with having a qualified leadership team grounded in the Keller Williams® culture; KWW also strives for stability in the government, banking, and judicial systems, and a higher maturity level in the real estate market. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, KWW's regions include Albania; Argentina; Aruba; Bahamas; Belize; Bermuda; Bolivia; Bonaire; Cayman Islands; Colombia; Costa Rica; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Delhi NCR, India; Dominican Republic; Dubai, UAE; El Salvador; France; Germany; Greece; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Luxembourg; Malaysia; Mexico; Monaco; Mongolia; Nicaragua; North Macedonia; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Romania; São Paulo, Brazil; Saudi Arabia; Scotland; Serbia; Singapore; Sint Maarten; Slovenia; Southern Africa; Spain; Suriname; Thailand; Turkiye; Turks and Caicos; United Kingdom; Uruguay; and Vietnam. About Keller Williams Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams Realty, LLC is the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count. It has more than 1,000 market center offices and 162,000 affiliated agents. The franchise is No. 1 in units and sales volume in the U.S.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration blasts Washington over immigration enforcement lawsuit
A sign on a Department of Justice building in downtown Washington D.C. (Stock photo by Douglas Rissing via Getty Images) The Trump administration has lambasted the Washington attorney general's lawsuit against a county for cooperating with federal immigration agents in violation of state law. The latest development, based on a court filing from the U.S. Department of Justice last week, marks another escalation of tensions between the state and feds over immigration. President Donald Trump's Justice Department is asking a judge to side with Adams County as it faces litigation from Attorney General Nick Brown over the state's 'sanctuary' policy known as the Keep Washington Working Act. 'Washington asserts KWW is lawful, because it does not 'impede' federal officials from accomplishing their work,' DOJ senior litigation counsel J. Max Weintraub wrote. 'But that is exactly what KWW was designed to do. And it has accomplished that end — actively facilitating aliens' evasion of federal law in Washington.' Weintraub argues that the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, enacted by Congress, preempts the Keep Washington Working Act. And he points to the Constitution's supremacy clause that holds federal statutes 'shall be the supreme Law of the Land.' 'KWW contravenes the Supremacy Clause for a host of independent reasons, and virtually at every turn,' Weintraub wrote. Brown's lawsuit against Adams County has also received a stiff rebuke from Republican members of Congress, including Rep. Michael Baumgartner, whose eastern Washington district includes part of the county. In a letter, Baumgartner and two other Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee wrote the state 'not only actively thwarts federal immigration enforcement, but it also targets local law enforcement officials for complying with federal law.' Brown defended the law in a sharply-worded response last week and questioned why his lawsuit was getting such national attention. Passed in 2019, the Keep Washington Working Act makes the state a so-called 'sanctuary' for immigrants without legal status. President Donald Trump has floated punishing such cities and states, including through withheld federal funding. On Thursday, a federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration from taking that kind of recourse over immigration enforcement. Seattle, which has a sanctuary policy of its own, is one of more than a dozen local governments that brought the case. The state law mostly stops local police from helping federal authorities with immigration enforcement. For example, police can't provide nonpublic personal information to federal authorities investigating civil immigration cases, and can't interview or detain people solely based on questions about their immigration status. Police also aren't allowed to ask about their immigration status, except in rare cases. In his lawsuit last month, Brown alleged the Adams County Sheriff's Office flouted the law for years. He says deputies unlawfully jailed people based solely on immigration status, enabled federal immigration agents to question those in custody and shared confidential personal information of Washingtonians with federal officials. In court filings, the county denied the state's allegations, with arguments about the Keep Washington Working Act that mirror the DOJ. In a Friday statement, Brown said the DOJ and Adams County employ 'the same factually and legally incorrect arguments.' 'There is no conflict between Keep Washington Working and federal law, and we look forward to continuing to present our case in court,' the attorney general continued. The complaint, initially filed in state court in Spokane County, has been moved to federal court. The attorney general is looking to move it back to state court because the case is focused on allegations regarding state law, not federal. Adams County, home to around 20,000 people in southeast Washington, has retained lawyers from a firm founded by top Trump aide and immigration hawk Stephen Miller.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Washington sues county for illegally helping ICE
(NewsNation) — The state of Washington filed suit against one of its counties, saying it broke state law by assisting federal immigration agents. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown alleged that Adams County, about 80 miles southwest of Spokane, has been illegally holding people in custody based on their immigration status since 2022. The suit also alleges the county sheriff's office has illegally shared nonpublic personal information of people in the country, including birth dates, home addresses, driver's license numbers and fingerprints with federal immigration officials. 'All of this conduct expressly violates state law,' the state wrote in the lawsuit. CBP shutting down migrant processing tent facilities in Texas, Arizona The suit cites the Keep Washington Working Act, which restricts the extent to which state, county and local police can assist federal immigration officers. While the county was in talks with the attorney general's office towards following this law, those talks fell through in January after President Donald Trump's inauguration, Brown alleges. 'The county and its Sheriff's Office suddenly hardened their stance, broke off settlement talks and aligned themselves with an organization founded by a top Trump aide who is among the most virulent anti-immigrant voices in the administration,' he added. Brown referred to Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of policy, who also founded America First Legal, which has been involved in a slew of right-wing initiatives across the country. One month after Trump took office, the county sent a letter to the Attorney General's Office asserting that it has 'obligations under federal law that directly conflict' with the Keep Washington Working Act, reported Courthouse News. New CBP Home app assists migrants with self-deportation 'The state's restrictions attempt to tie the hands of law enforcement, making it harder to cooperate with federal agencies that help keep dangerous individuals off our streets,' Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner, a Republican, said in a statement that also thanked America First Legal. The suit also says the state law protects the economy. Around 50% of the state's agricultural labor force is foreign-born, and the agricultural sector brought in over $12.7 billion in sales in 2022, according to the state. 'Even without the economic benefits to Adams County's important agrarian economy, its residents—approximately 64% of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino—deserve the protections afforded by KWW so that they too may live and work with dignity in Adams County,' the state contends. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Washington sues county for illegally helping federal immigration enforcement, suit claims
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The State of Washington is suing one of its counties for illegally aiding federal immigration enforcement officials, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown announced Monday. According to the Attorney General's Office, Adams County Sheriff's Office is illegally collaborating with federal immigration officials amid the Trump administration's efforts to 'enlist local officials for federal civil immigration work.' The lawsuit claims the sheriff's office has illegally held people in custody based on their immigration status, helped federal agents question people in custody and has routinely given immigration officials confidential personal information on hundreds of Washington residents. Cannon Beach's long-standing poop problem cited in complaint from environmental nonprofit Attorney General Brown noted Washington law does not interfere with federal officials' ability to enforce immigration law. However, Brown said the bipartisan Keep Washington Working Act of 2019 bans local law enforcement from providing aid in that work, noting this lawsuit asks the Adams County Sheriff's Office to follow KWW. The Attorney General's Office said without the act, lawmakers were concerned that if local law enforcement were helping federal immigration efforts, victims of crime would be reluctant to call police for help or to report crimes. The lawsuit argues, 'Rather than do the federal government's job — and absorb the uncompensated fiscal, legal, operational, and community-confidence costs that would come with it — the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW) ensures that Washington's limited law enforcement resources are best spent enforcing state law, solving crime, and helping ensure the state remains 'a place where the rights and dignity of all residents are maintained and protected in order to keep Washington working.'' 'Late last year Adams County was engaged in good faith settlement negotiations with our office,' Brown said. 'But after the inauguration of Donald Trump, the county and its Sheriff's Office suddenly hardened their stance, broke off settlement talks, and aligned themselves with an organization founded by a top Trump aide who is among the most virulent anti-immigrant voices in the administration.' Until 'this change in position,' Adams County told the Attorney General's Office it was working to follow state law, the Attorney General's Office said. The Attorney General's Office explained that in February, the sheriff's office retained attorneys from America First Legal, which is an organization founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Miller has 'repeatedly denigrated immigrant families,' the Attorney General's Office says, noting he has also 'repeated white nationalist talking points and is responsible for shaping some of the Trump administration's most draconian immigration policies, including the infamous family separation policy during the first Trump Administration.' In recent weeks, America First Legal issued a press release and a social media campaign attacking the Washington law, while adding a scrolling banner to its website stating the organization is 'combatting Washington State's Illegal Sanctuary Scheme,' the Attorney General's Office said. 'Washington has the right and the responsibility to decide for itself how to use its own resources to keep residents safe and the economy strong,' the attorney general's lawsuit says. 'The State cannot stand by when elected officials publicly boast that they are breaking state law and putting their own communities at risk.' Oregon schools could see 'operational disruptions' after Department of Education layoffs According to the Attorney General's Office, a vast majority of law enforcement agencies follow the Keep Washington Working Act, adding that the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs sent a letter to its members in February, reminding members that federal and state laws must be followed. 'No one in our state should fear calling 911 for help due to their immigration status,' WASPC stated in the letter. 'Rhetoric does not change the fact that the focus of local law enforcement is on criminal violations that affect local community safety and quality of life.' In a Facebook post reacting to the lawsuit, Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner said, 'my top priority is ensuring the safety and security of our residents. The recent lawsuit filed by the Washington State Attorney General against the Adams County Sheriff's Office is a disappointing attempt to hinder our ability to uphold public safety.' 'Our deputies take an oath to protect our communities from criminal activity, regardless of where it originates. The claim that we are engaging in 'illegal federal immigration enforcement' misrepresents the reality of law enforcement in Adams County. We do not enforce federal immigration law, but we also will not turn a blind eye to criminal activity—no matter who commits it,' Wagner continued. 'The state's restrictions attempt to tie the hands of law enforcement, making it harder to cooperate with federal agencies that help keep dangerous individuals off our streets. Public safety should never be a political issue, yet this lawsuit prioritizes ideology over the safety of our communities,' the sheriff added. 'We will continue to do our jobs with integrity, ensuring that Adams County remains a safe place to live, work, and raise a family. I stand by my deputies and our commitment to enforcing the law fairly and responsibly. We are Grateful for Americas First Legal.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
