Edmonton Realtors Stickin’ In There

by Sheldon Johnston and Sara MacLennan on 22. Apr, 2009 in Edmonton Real Estate Market

A few times on the blog we eluded to the idea that when the real estate association fees were due in March we would see a large drop off in the numbers of Realtors in Edmonton. Well, we were wrong…Turns out the membership has only dropped slightly from 3139 at the end of March to 3011 now, with lots of new members registered for the orientation course this month. Huh!

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13 Responses to “Edmonton Realtors Stickin’ In There”

  1. Fred 22. Apr, 2009 at 9:29 pm #

    What else are they going to do :)

  2. Gene Urban 23. Apr, 2009 at 6:49 am #

    We’ve seen similar “stay in business” attitudes in the Phoenix Arizona market as well. There was high attrition in 2008 as many of the poorly motivated, under qualified agents left. We welcomed their departure as many of them should have never been in the business to start with.

    Considering the high cost of staying in the business, this as been surprising to many of us. It will be interesting to see how all this pans out in the next year.

    Thanks for all the fine information you provide.

  3. speculator 23. Apr, 2009 at 6:20 pm #

    Are you able to say what the real estate association fees are per year

  4. asfddsa@afdas.com 23. Apr, 2009 at 8:14 pm #

    Sheldon – Quick real estate question for you, strictly out of curiousity. If you were showing a house for a perspective buyer, and you noticed the commission offered on House A was less then the commission offered on House B (say by about 6K), would you try to pursuade your perspective buyer to choose House B – due to the higher potential commission?

    In your opinion, would the majority of realtors do this?

    Thanks in advance!

  5. Sheldon Johnston 23. Apr, 2009 at 9:37 pm #

    When I work with a buyer I discuss fees and options up front. I discuss with buyers upfront that I’ll take no bonuses and anything offered as bonus is theirs. That way they never have to worry about the advice I’m giving being tied to a bonus.

    If a fee is below what we’ve agreed or discussed then its up to the buyer to make up the difference. If they are not interested in making up the difference then we don’t look at properties below what they we agreed to. There are always exceptions and sometimes we have to revist things based on unique circumstances, but that’s the general rule.

    As for the second part of your question, I would advise my client based on the facts around the property and their personal circumstances not the fee involved.

    I can’t comment on what the majority of REALTORS would do. What would you do?

  6. asfddsa@afdas.com 23. Apr, 2009 at 9:54 pm #

    Thanks for the reply Sheldon. I’m not sure what I would do. I would probably be looking at the properties with the higher $$ for commission.

    My situation is I currently have my house for sale at a flat rate for the selling agent, and I’m trying to decide if I should lower the price, or just add more to the selling realtors commission.

    I was just curious of your opinion on it, as a buyers agent.

    Thanks again.

  7. Duke 23. Apr, 2009 at 11:20 pm #

    As a former agent, I won’t get in trouble for saying this. All things being equal I would definitely lean towards showing places with higher commissions. Obviously it has to be what the client wants, but for example, if there’s ten condos in the same building for sale, or ten starter homes on the same block all relatively similar, which do you think I’m going to show? No brainer.

  8. Buy Buy Buy 24. Apr, 2009 at 8:31 am #

    That’s a silly question.
    You do know the obvious answer.

  9. Buy Buy Buy 24. Apr, 2009 at 8:34 am #

    Tim Horton’s hiring all positions.

  10. Buy Buy Buy 24. Apr, 2009 at 8:37 am #

    Amen.

  11. Jerk 24. Apr, 2009 at 12:03 pm #

    Tim Horton’s only hires people who don’t speak English though… so that rules almost half of the Realtors in this city out right there.

  12. asfddsa@afdas.com 24. Apr, 2009 at 12:45 pm #

    Duke – Point well taken. We raised the commission this morning. We are getting tons of showings (almost too many), and are priced extremely well already. One offer to date, financing failed. We shall see if the commission change does anything. Just wanted a second opinion.

    Thanks again.

  13. FinancialTruth 25. Apr, 2009 at 5:56 pm #

    So, a net 128 REALTORS left the business in a single month?

    If you expand that to 12 months, that would be over 1500 REALTORS leaving their business in a single year.

    An expectation of the local REALTOR industry to suffer a 50% annual headcount reduction is supposed to be good thing? Huh!