What ReMax Does (sales, real estate, broker)

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

If anyone is listing, make sure that the real estate company is doing much advertising on the web. People are now looking for houses and properties at 3am on their computers. Gone are the days of looking at books, etc. ReMax makes their agents pay for a page in the Pocono Record and to me that is totally unfair. Make sure whatever real estate company you are using, the company pays for the advertising, including the many links on the web, that is where you get the exposure

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

also found out that these poor agents have to pay $1,500 for office space a month, pay for paper and pay for a telephone line.

[Summering]

Yes, I knew a Remax agent with a "double" office. So she paid twice the amt. for an office per month. They have to go along with Remax rules, but having their own space must make the office feel more like their "personal" space.
I found my first home in NJ by driving around.
My second home in NJ by a great newspaper advertisement. Hubby put a deposit on that one because I had the flu!
The third home the realtor took me to, but by then I was lining up things on line.
This home I am in now I found online. I wanted to go right away and see it but I waited days for my realtor to be " ready." I could have saved myself about ten thousand if I had just gone to the listing agent. To much time went by and others bid and we had to then make up the difference. Plus, our agreed to deal was never taken for a signature........Which is another story.
Homes on line are the best thing for a realtor to do. Do you think that some don't post online?
Gosh, that would be a huge mistake.........It would also be so behind the times.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Originally Posted by Summering

Yes, I knew a Remax agent with a "double" office. So she paid twice the amt. for an office per month. They have to go along with Remax rules, but having their own space must make the office feel more like their "personal" space.
I found my first home in NJ by driving around.
My second home in NJ by a great newspaper advertisement. Hubby put a deposit on that one because I had the flu!
The third home the realtor took me to, but by then I was lining up things on line.
This home I am in now I found online. I wanted to go right away and see it but I waited days for my realtor to be " ready." I could have saved myself about ten thousand if I had just gone to the listing agent. To much time went by and others bid and we had to then make up the difference. Plus, our agreed to deal was never taken for a signature........Which is another story.
Homes on line are the best thing for a realtor to do. Do you think that some don't post online?
Gosh, that would be a huge mistake.........It would also be so behind the times.

They have to pay for office space, phone lines, paper, etc even advertisements. They have limited contact with online resources, but of course you I was told many people do not know this when they sign on.

[KarenRice]

I do not see how anyone can afford $1,500 a month fees like that. I'm so thankful that my broker doesn't charge us fees.

[KarenRice]

Please note though that each RE/MAX office is independently owned and operated. They MAY have similar policies, but not all RE/MAX offices are the same.

[mathjak107]

do all real estate offices pay out the same rate of commission?... in our company(not real estate) some of our commissioned sales people get hit for certain expenses but they get a larger share of the sale too. our competitors may not charge their salesman these costs but they dont pay as much commission either either... our guys like our structure and make more even after paying certain expenses

they are actaully structured as self employed and get a 1099 not a w2 which gives them even greater benefits tax wise and write off wise...

its hard to know what goes on in a company alot of times from the outside

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Originally Posted by KarenRice

I do not see how anyone can afford $1,500 a month fees like that. I'm so thankful that my broker doesn't charge us fees.

I would never use them again. They do not want to let you out of contracts, yet they never show your house. They pay $1,100 for an advertisement in the Pocono Record, pay for the phone lines, for a ream of paper etc.

[mathjak107]

the broker we used to buy is from re-max in lake wallenpaupack ... he likes it there..even left centry 21 to go there..he was century 21 when we bought the house

[KarenRice]

No - commission structure is different for different offices. Generally at offices like ReMax, agents get 100% - or close to it - of the commission. A very busy active agent selling lots of properties will find the fee structure to their advantage compared to an office that takes a cut of the agent's commission.

I prefer to have less of the commission in exchange for not having a monthly office fee and other expenses hanging over my head.

Brokerages do need to have money to operate - running a real estate office - well, running ANY kind of office these days - is extremely expensive. The office is either going to be funded by sales commissions or agent paid fees - there's no way around it other than to "go cyber" and eliminate the standard office all together.

It will eventually come to that, though probably not for many years in this neck of the woods, lol - but there are many "cyber office" setups in other parts of the country. So much can be done by telephone, fax, and email, that the need for a physical building is diminishing the more technologically advanced we become. Customers no longer need to come into the office to see the listings available, like they did in the past. They can see everything they want online.

Personally I can't envision that happening around here any time soon, but I'm also sure that 12 years ago, few envisioned the role the Internet would be playing in our lives, either.

I do about 90% of my "office work" at home. I'll be on vacation next week and will be able to monitor my email and handle certain things from my cottage 800 miles away.