**Note: Post below was written on 10/10/2012, before the IPO. According to reports, the public offering was a success, with stock soaring as high as $34.90 on its opening day**

Those watching the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning will see a new ticker,”RLGY” as the real estate franchise giant, Realogy Corp., goes public. And after a long, somewhat tumultuous history of being owned (directly and via affiliates/subsidiaries) by hedge fund Apollo, some say that it’s the right time for Realogy to have more control over its future.

As Realogy’s franchises include Sotheby’s International Realty, Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate,  Century 21 Real Estate, and ERA Real Estate, among others, it could be easily argued that the success or failure of the IPO will be reflective of the public’s confidence in the housing recovery. As recent real estate aggregator Trulia raised over $89M in the past month through its own IPO’s and Zillow raised an additional $156.7M in its second offering, it will be interesting to see if Realogy, with its real estate conglomeration business model, can also succeed.

Announcing its initial public offering priced at $27 per share, the RLGY ticker will be one to watch.