Private home buying, selling under one roof! Is www.cheapcomm.com an alternative?
Friday, July 22, 2011
By Bill Mah, Edmonton Journal With Files From Postmedia News
The Canadian real estate market got more competitive with the merger of two discount home-buying and selling companies, says the head of PropertyGuys.com.
Ken LeBlanc, president and CEO of the Moncton, N.B.-based privatesale franchise network, says a partnership announced this month with Toronto-based discount brokerage Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. levels the playing field with traditional real estate agents. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"It allows us to basically marry both worlds," said LeBlanc, who is visiting Edmonton on Friday and Saturday for the company's western regional conference. PropertyGuys has five franchise owners in Edmonton and 20 in Western Canada among 111 franchises nationally.
"PropertyGuys.com has been for the last 13 years in the private-sale space. We've been head-to-head with all the other for-sale-by-owner companies out there. Now, what this allows us and our franchise owners to do is compete for the full slice of the pie."
PropertyGuys bills itself as the largest and fastest-growing private-sale franchise network in Canada through which customers can list and sell their own homes without an agent.
Realtysellers has a history as a discount brokerage led by Lawrence Dale, who fought for years with the Canadian Real Estate Association, arguing its Multiple Listing Service unfairly restricted consumer choice and raised costs.
The Competition Bureau eventually examined industry rules that said consumers had to opt for an entire slate of services. The agency declared those practices anti-competitive, with CREA ultimately agreeing to allow home sellers to pay for only those services they want from their real estate agents.
LeBlanc said the partnership gives customers access to brokerage services that were previously off-limits.
"The best way I can explain it is if we're selling Dell computers, they're the Intel for the Dell computers. We're powered by Realtysellers.
"Basically, overnight we became Canada's largest discount broker."
The goal is to offer a suite of services, from a for-sale sign to brokerage services such as using Realtysellers to list homes on MLS, where by far most deals are made.
Consumers can opt for a self-serve option, starting at $399, where they upload their own listing and photos and receive a yard sign.
An MLS listing add-on is $299. PropertyGuys has access to Realtor.ca (MLS) via Realtysellers, which has established partnerships or affiliations with provincial brokerages where required, LeBlanc said.
Deluxe packages costing from $1,500 to $2,500 may include home inspections, staging, appraisals and other services.
Jon Hall, spokesman for the Realtors Association of Edmonton, said he doesn't see the partnership as a game-changer, pointing to another sale-by-owner service ComFree.
"ComFree was incredibly active in Edmonton, probably the best Com-Free franchise in the country, and over the 10 years they've been active here, it really hasn't made a huge impact on the MLS at all," Hall said.
"What it's going to do is fracture that segment of the do-it-yourself market."
He said 90 to 95 per cent of all transactions involve a real estate agent.
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Our question is whether new comer www.CheapComm.com is a valid alternative?
List with a Real Estate Agent for $995.00 !!
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