The Century 21 Real Estate company was founded by Art Bartlett and Marsh Fisher in California in 1971. In 1977, the two initiated a public offering on the stock exchange in order to raise capital to expand their company throughout the US. By 1984, the Century 21 Real Estate company was bought entirely by the Metropolitan Life Insurance company. Century 21 Real Estate, like many other real estate companies in the 1980s became the target of financial companies wanting to add additional services to their lines of products.

In 1995, Century 21 Real Estate was sold to HFS, a hotel, and real estate franchisor. Subsequently, HFS and Cendant merged and the real estate division, was spun off. The new parent company, Realogy, would also control Coldwell Banker and ERA, as well as Century 21 Real Estate. This put Realogy in 25% of every residential real estate transaction conducted in the United States.

The Century 21 Real Estate system has more than 8,100 independently owned and operated offices that employ in excess of 140,000 real estate sales professionals worldwide. Practically every major city in the United States, and a large majority of smaller cities, has at least one Century 21 Real Estate branch office.

Real estate brokers, licensed by their respective state or jurisdiction independently own their own office. The Century 21 Real Estate franchisor provides company support along with the MLS (Multi-List Service) to help bring clients to the individual office in their location.

The progressive systems and technology Century 21 Real Estate utilizes in an effort to pair buyers and sellers through their web sites and internet presence Makes it easier for anyone, anywhere in the world to find property and deal with a local agent. This process has greatly improved the worldwide real estate market over the way business was conducted 4 decades ago.

Although every office is independently owned and operated, the Century 21 Real Estate corporate office has the right to terminate a franchisee if they should be involved in illegal activities or break the franchise agreement. This added protection for the consumer means that you have the backing of the corporate offices of Century 21 Real Estate.

The corporate offices are located in Parsippany, NJ in the United States. A recent press release shows the company has added more than 1500 new professional agents as well as 11 new branch offices. Although many would argue the home buying market is in a slump, the recent activity at many of these realtors would suggest otherwise. A further release has indicated the Albanian and Hispanic markets are expanded with Century 21 Real Estate offices.