Real Estate Broker

Real Estate Brokers, what is in a name?

It is one big misunderstanding that the name of the broker determines the quality of the realtor.

Realtors must be associated with a broker. In Calgary there are plenty of brokers. Bigger names are Real Estate Professionals, Maxwell, Remax, Royal Le Page, CIR and Century 21. Some have many offices, some only one office. Some are local, some are worldwide. Many of those brokers are franchises, like Remax and Maxwell. Some have many realtors in the office, and there are offices with only a couple of realtors.

It’s about the realtor serving you, not the brand behind the realtor

So, what’s in a name? The fact here is: not much. If you are thinking of buying or selling, would you particularly call a broker office with a name you “think” is best? In nearly all cases, the answer is no. It is absolutely true that some broker names you see more often than others, but in the world of realtors, the person counts, not the brokerage s/he is associated with.
Currently, we are associated with Real Estate Professionals Inc, a local brokerage with 2 locations and approximately 400 agents. We often notice that many of our clients don’t even know with who we are associated. Even after working together for some time.

A realtor must join a broker who holds the license

When you come out of ‘realtor-school’, you must join a broker. Many realtors will interview a few offices to see what they can offer. Some brokerages are very keen, and give lots of training. Others don’t give training at all.

Desk fees that offices charge are very different as well. They can vary from $100 per month to $1200 or $1500 per month. Sometimes brokerages ask for a cut of the commission, others don’t. In some cases realtors decide to go for the prestige. The term ‘luxury homes’ seems to be popping up more and more often and some broker offices pretend they only sell the high end homes. This is part of the marketing of a broker.

Again, it is one big misunderstanding that the name of the broker determines the quality of the realtor. So how do you know if a realtor is good or not? By asking the right questions to a realtor.