A Match Made in Paradise

William Raveis merges with Town & Country Real Estate over values and ambition.

Since founding the largest family-owned brokerage in the Northeast in 1974, William Raveis grew his business to include residential real estate markets along the East Coast from Maine to Florida. Around 2022, Judi Desiderio, chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Town & Country Real Estate, caught his attention, and he saw an opportunity on the East End. 

William Raveis, the chairman and CEO’s self-named brokerage, bought Town & Country in December, naming Desiderio and Managing Partner Janet Hummel as partners. “When you acquire a company you have to trust the people and they have to trust you,” Raveis said. “We like each other.”

While the Hamptons aren’t far geographically from where Raveis launched his firm, it’s been a journey to get here.

In 1974, after feeling burned by the corporate world and having a wife and small children at home, Raveis decided to go into business for himself. Having learned about the real estate industry from his father, a general contractor, he thought about making money by having other people sell homes under his leadership. “I opened an office above a grocery store: me, a phone and a desk in a 10-by-10 room,” in Fairfield, Connecticut, Raveis recalled. “I said, ‘Well, if the agent makes money, I make money.’”

Aware of the ebbs and flows that happen in the industry, Raveis encouraged his agents to work together in teams and sought to give marketing and educational tools to grow their sales consistently. “I am here to help people and to pat them on the back and help them succeed,” Raveis said. “I’m very into letting people do what they want to do.”

Early on, Raveis grew his company to offer its customers mortgage loans, cash advances and mortgage and title insurance.

A father of three, his son Chris Raveis is president of the brokerage, while the other, Ryan Raveis, serves as co-president managing its mortgage and insurance arm. “As a 27-year-old kid, I had a vision for myself: ‘I want to build a family business and I want to have financial security when I’m in my 70s,’” Raveis explained. “Both those things have happened.”

One might agree his business plan worked: despite the ups and downs in the last five decades, Raveis said his award-winning company has been profitable every year and has never missed a paycheck to an employee.  In 2024, it grew by nearly 10% and achieved more than $16 billion in closed sales. William Raveis has offices in key markets like Westchester County, West Palm Beach, Florida, and Nantucket Island.

But the firm’s bells and whistles didn’t entice Desiderio of Town & Country. It was Raveis’s morals and values. While numerous brokerages have tried to buy Town & Country in the last 20 years, Desiderio said this was the first offer that felt right. “He treats everyone like his family,” she said, adding that Raveis often includes her in his early morning calls to check in, in a show of parent-like affection. 

While neither party could share the value of the sale due to a nondisclosure agreement, Desiderio said Raveis happily agreed to a clause stipulating that all of her brokerage’s existing staff be retained.

The reach of William Raveis will benefit the Town & Country clients which grew over the years from mostly locals to mostly folks with additional homes in Manhattan, Florida and other areas, Desiderio said. Its services, meanwhile, will help buyers navigate the Hamptons’ complicated landscape. “Insurance companies like Geico won’t insure half the properties out here because of the flood risk,” Desiderio explained.

Raveis said the benefit is mutual. “It really fits the piece that we were missing,” he said. “We had everything else but the Hamptons.”

When asked if he’ll purchase a home for himself out East, Raveis chuckled that he enjoys the time he spends in Montauk with friends but that he’s focused on growing his business. “I am here to give our services and compete aggressively,” Raveis said. “We like to be No. 1 in the marketplace. I didn’t come to the Hamptons to be No. 2.”