As Long Realty Co. celebrates 85 years in Tucson, here are eight highlights of the residential real estate brokerage's history:
• Roy H. Long moved to Tucson in 1920 for a climate that could help heal his sick wife. His home was at the present-day site of the University of Arizona baseball field.
• Long saw potential for real estate in the dry, warm Southwest and started a realty company from his home with two other sales associates. That was in 1926, just three years before the Great Depression.
• The company's founder, Roy Long, retired in 1952 and his son Barry took over the business, growing it into eight branches.
• Long Realty Co. extended its services outside Tucson into Green Valley and Sierra Vista in 1995 by purchasing Green Valley Realty.
• The company merged with HomeServices of America, an affiliate of Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway, in 1999.
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• Long Realty purchased the residential division of Tucson Realty & Trust Co., another long-time Tucson real estate company, in 2001.
• In 2005, Long Realty Co. reached $5 billion in written sales volume for the year. Over the next several years, it expanded into Phoenix and Mexico.
• Long Realty now has more than 1,300 licensed real estate sales associates in more than 37 offices, including 23 affiliate realty and property management companies in Arizona and Mexico.