TheRedPin, the real estate market, roofers, elections, hotels and libraries. This is The Marshall Report

keith marshall

Where do I work again?

I received an email from a friend and long time real estate client yesterday. He wanted to know if I could recommend a good roofing company. I could. And did. I used Belmar Roofing a couple of years ago to re-roof my Westmount home and I thought they were excellent.

But what made me smile was how the email started.

Long time no see!  I saw that you had moved from Remax to Redpin!  I hope that’s going well.  We should meet up for lunch again soon!

I’ve never worked at Remax. I was at Royal LePage when I made the switch to RedPin. My friend and long time real estate client made an honest mistake but it shows (again) how out of touch real estate brokerages are.

The brokerage model is broken

Brokerages spend a lot of effort branding their services. Their marketing departments have precise rules about what agents can and cannot do. The rules include how big the brokerages name and phone number are in relation to the agent’s picture and phone number on print advertising and signs. Brokerages produce generic listing presentations and other marketing collateral that put the brokerage up front and the agent as a secondary player, But sadly the services brokerages offer are all so much alike that the consumers can’t tell the difference. The marketing material is so generic it has no impact. It’s no wonder a long-time client, one I’ve help through three real estate transactions, does not know which brokerage I used to hang my license at.

It’s a sad, sad state of affairs.

 

TheRedPin turns 4

I’ve been working with TheRedPin as their only local agent (for the time being) for exactly 4 weeks now. It’s been a great 4 weeks – 4 new listings, 3 closed deals – lots of happy clients. I had no idea real estate could be so rewarding, or so easy.

The easy part has to do with the back office support. The concierge team are excellent to work with. I just love them and so do my clients. TheRedPin is a true sales organization that focuses on the clients – not a traditional brokerage at all. I’m in the honeymoon phase with my new brokerage so I’ll stop gushing now.

TheRedPin turned 4 today. Is a short while, we have grown from a real estate start up to a full service brokerage of 120 employees which include realtors, tech, marketing, product, finance, operations, HR, mortgage and inside sales teams.

And, for the record, I’ve been working with TheRedPin for almost a year – I was their local “referral agent” before joining full time

 

creaForecast: Home sales up 4%. Prices up 4%

The Canadian Real Estate Association raised our home sales forecast today. After a slow start to the season, (blamed on our tough winter and late spring), stronger than expected sales in the past few months are leading to what looks like almost 4% more sales this year compared to 2013.

Prices are up as well. Excluding Toronto and Vancouver (our biggest and craziest markets), the average price across the land is up nearly 4%.

It’s like I’ve been saying all year, in Kitchener Waterloo, it is a great year to sell but a tough year to buy.

 

Election News

I ran into Waterloo’s next mayor yesterday at the annual Euclid Street street party. He told me that he was at the Norman Street street party the day before, in fact Dave Jaworsky has been campaigning for six months. He knows the issues. It’s fun to talk to someone who really knows whats going on.

I guess I’ll vote for him.

I won’t have to vote for Melissa Durrell, my Ward 7 councillor. She was just acclaimed along with two other Kitchener Waterloo councillors who are running unopposed.

 

Delta Hotel opens in Uptown

For the past couple of months, the Barrel Yards development has been taking occupancy in their luxury (and expensive to rent) Cooperage building – part of the multimillion dollars project. Today, the Delta Hotel officially opened. Located near the heart of UpTown Waterloo the hotel has 194 guest rooms and approximately 6500 square feet of meeting and conference space including a 2800 square foot ballroom.

 

Little libraries

I don’t read much anymore, not books anyways. I read most of my words online. And at bedtime instead of reading, it’s time for podcasts.

But I like this trend. Sprouting up all over Waterloo Region are Little Libraries – small spaces for people to exchange books. What a great idea.

 

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