How Real Estate Really Works

Real Estate is the primary investment resource for retirement and quality of life.

DID YOU KNOW ? When buying or selling, most consumers choose their Realtor simply

by chance, because they think ANYBODY would do.

************************************************

ANYBODY WOULD DO?

In their last real estate transaction consumers have...

54.0% - Randomly called the name brand real estate office because ANYBODY would do.

19.5% - Interviewed only one Realtor because ANYBODY would do.

11.5% - Used the same Realtor as last time because ANYBODY would do.

08.5% - Called the most advertised local Realtor and got ANYBODY

02.5% - Used a Realtor referred by friends because ANYBODY would do.

02.0% - Used a friend or family member who is a Realtor because ANYBODY would do.

01.5% - Sold their property using themselves as an Agent because ANYBODY would do.

00.5% - Used a Realtor through an anonymous prepaid Internet Referral Site because ANYBODY would do.

****************************************************

Realtor: def. - is a trademark which identifies a real estate professional, who is a member of a the National Association of Realtors (NAR)(US), and/or

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and, as

such, subscribe to a high standard of professional service and to a strict

Code of Ethics.

When Do Consumers Care?

Unless you are buying or selling soon, most people are not interested in the day to day statistics that seem to be taken out of context by the media.

As you know, the Media only report on the real

estate market when it is hot and usually 6 months after the fact. It is usually a filler piece to use up some air time between the end of the real news and the weather.

History tells us that only when a person is very seriously interested in buying or selling a property do they take notice of what is happening

in their own neighbourhood market. Suddenly the interest becomes almost an obsession to know all there is to know. It is at this point, most people

make a crucial decision that could effect not only their financial future but where they will be living for the next few years.

WHO DO I CALL?

These days you can count on one hand the major real estate players in any local neighbourhood in Canada and the USA pretty much these days. The major real

estate corporations are now all household names with symbolic trademarked images each professing to be the #1 in the community or country.

It is bad enough when the individual salesperson claim to be NUMBER 1 in certain areas of the myriad of statistics and then the various offices make inflating statements which makes it even more confusing to most consumers.

The independent local Realtor is almost a relic of the past because it is hard to compete with the pizzazz and glitter of a BRAND NAME franchise.

BRANDING

Name recognition is what the brainwashed consumer has come to wrongly recognize as the way to do their business when it comes to buying anything these days. Look at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Future Shop, Costco, Staples and ask yourself what did these corporations replace?

In real estate in Canada it is the same: Century 21, Re/max, Prudential, Coldwell Banker, Sutton Group, Homelife and now Royal Lepage has joined the ranks of franchising out their once corporate offices.

Some of these have parent companies who (while being american owned, just wanted to diversify and capitalize on the growing real estate business. It wasn't the actual real estate business as a commodity they saw as lucrative but the people who sell the real estate in the industry.

For the individual Realtor, the reality