An Irvine, Calif.–based online real estate company, Auction.com, is opening a client management and business development office in Northwest Austin.

John Hood, executive vice president of C2C Inside Sales for Auction.com, said the company plans to hire 40 employees by the end of the year and is looking to hire for sales positions. The company has already hired 15 of the 40 employees, he said.

Auction.com's office is 7,000 square feet and is located at the Stone Lake Office Park, 4030 W. Braker Lane, Ste. 500. The new office space allows for potential expansion in the future, Hood said. The company officially opened its new office Sept. 3.

"We are thrilled to be back in Austin and look forward to playing a roll in the positive economic growth of the city," said Hood, who attended The University of Texas at Austin.

Auction.com is an online real estate market platform where people can buy or sell residential and commercial properties. Since the company's fruition in 2007, it has sold more than $26 billion in real estate and more than 100,000 properties, Hood said. The business has international and U.S. offices, including in Dallas; Plano, Texas; Miami, Fla. and Silicon Valley, Calif.

Hood said the company chose Austin for its new location because of its volume of talented professionals and chose Northwest Austin because of its proximity to restaurants, gyms, daycares and other attractive services for its employees.

Auction.com is one of 16 California-based companies to expand to Austin in the past year. Dave Porter, senior vice president of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, said one reason California companies might be drawn to Austin is because of Proposition 30 that passed in California last November to raise corporate income taxes.

More than 150 companies that are headquartered in California have a presence in Austin, Porter said. He said 38 percent of Austin's workforce has four-year college degrees and only 23 percent of Austin's jobs require a four-year college degree. Austin has the fifth most educated workforce in the U.S.

To learn more about employment information with Auction.com, visit its employment website at https://www.auction.com/ company-information/career.php.