1946
Before the firm
Jordan Baris is twenty years old, serving with the United States Navy in the Philippines — service that would shape the values of the brokerage he would soon found.
Our Story
Seventy-three years.
Two generations.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty was founded by Jordan Baris in 1952 — and what began as one man's vision has become Northern New Jersey's most enduring family-run brokerage. Across three offices, two generations of leadership, and seventy-three years of unbroken practice, the firm has been shaped by people who showed up year after year with the same commitment Jordan brought from the beginning.
1953
Early sales
The firm’s first residential transactions — marketing graphics already striking and considered for the era.
1955
More sales, more offerings
Sales kept coming — and the company expanded the categories it served, broadening into new lines of business beyond residential.
1959
The Commercial Division gathers steam
The Commercial Division gets a head of steam going — logging many commercial and investment property sales, alongside the steady residential business.
1961
A growth trajectory begins
The graphics are extraordinary for the time, and the marketing — led by Jordan himself — keeps getting better and better. The firm’s business-growth trajectory begins in earnest.
1971
The first computerized brokerage
Jordan Baris, Inc. becomes one of the first computerized real estate brokerages in America — through a pioneering partnership with First Fidelity Bank.
1977
President of the Real Estate Board
Jordan Baris completes his term as President of the Real Estate Board of Newark and Hillside — leadership of the profession alongside leadership of the firm.
1978
NJ Coalition for Safe Communities
Jordan Baris founds the NJ Coalition for Safe Communities — an extraordinary organization that would grow with the support of business leaders, politicians, judges, schools, and communities. Here, with then-Congressman Jim Florio, later Governor of New Jersey.
1981
Realtor Community Service Award
Jordan Baris is awarded the Realtor Community Service Award — and stands among the very few in the nation to twice win this meaningful recognition, given to Realtors making a tremendous difference beyond the transaction.
1988
A second generation
Three years after joining the firm, Ken Baris is recognized as among the top, most creative, and most effective Real Estate Agents in the nation.
1993
The Satisfaction Guarantee
Long before customer-experience programs became standard in the industry, Jordan Baris introduced a written satisfaction guarantee — committing to what would otherwise have been a handshake promise, in writing.
2003
A gift, and a calling
After Ken donated a kidney to his father Jordan, they both realized that the gift of extending the quality and length of Jordan’s life was a treasure — and they became deeply involved with The Saint Barnabas Healthcare System and the National Kidney Foundation, to help as many others as possible.
2004
The Star-Ledger turns its lens
New Jersey’s largest newspaper turned its attention frequently to the Baris family’s brokerage — the kind of coverage that comes when a firm has been steadily leading for half a century.
2005
Top dollar
Heralded for netting clients top dollar, the Star-Ledger featured Ken in a piece about how he gets such amazing results.
2006
Ken named President
The next chapter, made formal — Ken Baris is named President of the firm, marking the steady passing of the torch from one generation to the next.
2012
Ringing the NASDAQ closing bell
Ken and Jordan Baris rang the NASDAQ closing bell together — a wonderful tribute by Zillow. Ken was among the earliest Realtors in the nation to be involved with Zillow, and was a founding member of the Zillow Advisory Board.
2020
Adapting, together
Even at the height of pandemic disruption, the firm kept training and growing — gathering its agents, in whatever form possible, to invest in the relationships and skills that have always been the engine of the business.
2023
Newsmaker of the Year
Ken Baris received the RISMedia Newsmaker Award — recognizing not a single deal or a single year, but a body of leadership built over four decades of commitment to the industry, the community, and the firm his father founded.
