RE/MAX Celebrates 38 Years in Real Estate
RE/MAX, one of the largest real estate franchises in the world, and its Co-Founders, Dave and Gail Liniger, are celebrating its 38th anniversary in 2011 along with a year of significant success in 2010 despite a challenging housing market.

“It’s been an exhilarating ride, through the ups and downs of every type of market imaginable,” said RE/MAX Chairman Dave Liniger who pioneered the maximum commission concept when he opened his first RE/MAX office in 1973. “We’ve accomplished a lot of things in 38 years but by far our greatest success is having an impassioned network of the most professional agents in the business helping buyers and sellers around the world. They’re making a difference every day and I couldn’t be more proud of their accomplishments.”

In 2010, RE/MAX worldwide franchise sales were up nearly 30% from the previous year and RE/MAX agents were ranked the most productive in the industry by two notable industry surveys.

Peter Gilmour, Chairman of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, says that locally the brand has also been making great strides in gaining market share, with 18 new franchises sold in the Southern Africa region during 2010 to take the number of franchised offices over the 150 mark. In a year where the agent numbers nationally dropped, RE/MAX showed a 20% increase in the number of experienced agents joining the group across Southern Africa.

RE/MAX now operates in more than 80 countries around the world, a presence greater than any of its competitors, and building on four decades of tradition, the global network continues to set the pace for the real estate industry.

RE/MAX has logged a number of milestones in 2010. RE/MAX expanded internationally into eight new countries including Bolivia, Tunisia, Dominica and Suriname. In addition, two national US surveys ranked top-performing RE/MAX agents above all other national franchise agents in average transaction sides. In the 2010 REAL Trends 500 survey, RE/MAX agents averaged an impressive 14.4 transaction sides, 46% higher than the next closest competitor. The 2010 RISMedia Power Broker Report put RE/MAX agents at an average of 15.1 transaction sides, 26% higher than the next closest competitor.

“Similarly in Southern Africa, RE/MAX agent productivity saw an increase of 40% in national sales during 2010, which can be attributed to the quality of service and the expertise of our experienced agents in a challenging market. Proprietary training systems were introduced specifically to help agents better manage their day to day business and their client relationships,” says Gilmour.

In the US, RE/MAX continues to lead the industry in the number of agents trained in dealing with Distressed properties with the most agents holding the international Certified Distress Property Expert Designation of any Real Estate grouping. Gilmour notes that it is no different in South Africa. “Another exciting first for RE/MAX of Southern Africa is offering the Certified Distressed Property Expert (SA) training exclusively to our agents. An agent holding a CPDE (SA) designation is a trained real estate professional with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the industry today, and the options and effective methods for dealing with homeowners facing financial hardship.

To date, over 300 RE/MAX agents in South Africa have attended the course and are now CPDEs. They join over 30 000 agents in North America who have benefited from the information and knowledge gleaned from the course.
Other milestones achieved by RE/MAX in 2010 include the fact that Reader’s Digest Canada named RE/MAX the Most Trusted Brand in Real Estate. RE/MAX University (RU), the propriety network for RE/MAX agent training and education, also launched a new On-Demand Platform, making its award-winning training available 24/7 online. In addition RE/MAX also launched the RE/MAX University Mobile Application to give agents access to training on the go, along with the RE/MAX YouTube Brand Channel that features hundreds of RE/MAX videos and a geo-targeting map for consumers searching for listed properties, local RE/MAX agents, offices and community videos.