If you’ve ever shopped for a home in California’s Pomona Valley—especially in the lovely Lincoln Park Historic District—you’ll have almost certainly run into Fred Van Allen. “When I ask clients that standard how-did-you-find-me question, they point out that I’m pretty hard to miss,' Fred laughs. “I’m very active with my marketing and have a massive online presence. That’s one reason why I’m the number one agent in Pomona.

Another reason is Fred’s passion for helping people and educating them about the process or the qualities of the homes they’re looking at. Most of my family are teachers, so it’s in my blood. I just pursue it differently. I especially love helping first-time homebuyers achieve that American Dream, and explaining the nuts and bolts of how the market works.

Fred began learning those intricacies himself back in 1974, when he started a job selling real estate advertising for the Los Angeles Times. He even got his license two years later, buying property as an investment. When he retired from the newspaper in 2011, he renewed his license and quickly climbed into the top five percent of Realtors in Southern California, serving clients all across the Pomona and San Gabriel Valleys. Soon his wife got her license too, to help with the burgeoning business. An important part of Fred’s fast climb to the top was his use of technology and social media for a more powerful reach into the market place and his customers recognized this. Fred was internationally recognized from among thousands of Realtors in a survey produced by Tom Ferry International/BombBomb/vSreen for his use of social media video, one YouTube video getting over 2,500 views and 1.3 million views on a TikTok video.

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