Let's Hear from Agents in The Kingsway.

I've decided to open up the blog to the esteemed members of the Toronto Real Estate Board by inviting them to freely blog on this site. Let's see who is up to the challenge.

Claire Estlick and Robert Pettigrew | Legends in their own minds.

You've got to hand it to Claire Estlick and Robert Pettigrew and their "Legendary Reputations." Not only are they both extremely well preserved thanks to regular visits to the Kingsway Medi-Spa, but the two of them are also internet marketing gurus.

Take a look at this terrific little web introduction to the services offered by these legends that claim to "dominate" the West End. They've clearly chosen to invest in building a compelling web site using their hard earned commissions.

But wait, other then their logo in the corner --- it's exactly the same as Carolyn Curtis, the broker over at the Royal Lepage Kingsway Office, Leslie and Joe Battle's, the fabulous Nusca Team, Diana Matheson, The Polson Twins (Barb and Peter), Christine Simpson and hundreds of others agent's sites.

So...while all these agents claim to be unique, they all do exactly the same amateurish stuff. And can somebody please remind me again why commissions remain as high as they are. Let's be honest. Real Estate is a life-style masquerading as a profession.

More Marketing Genius at Work in the Kingsway | Bruce Klassen

My mail arrived today and I had to drop everything and call the Toronto Star to stop the press! Royal LePage's Bruce Klassen who as we've all come to know as "Mr. I specialize in residences of The Kingsway and Sunnylea" had graciously littered my box with what he was calling a "news release."

Hey Bruce, do the the residents of The Kingsway and Sunnylea a huge favour and stop sending this mindless crap. Do you honestly believe that a direct mail piece that proclaims the fact that you bought some bullshit accreditation from The Institute of Luxury Home Marketing carries any weight with us?

What's wrong Bruce, isn't the lead generation you do at LKS's springfest working for you anymore?

Maybe I'm being a little harsh....sorry Bruce. I did watch the video about the institute and I can see how you are justifiably proud. You should get credit for bettering yourself with a 2-day course that enables you to slap all kinds of goofy logos on your marketing materials and convince us that you are now better equipped to sell million dollars homes that generally all sell themselves.

After all, many of the residents of the Kingsway and Sunnylea (this blogger included) have accreditations like CFA, MBA, CGA, CA, PhD which took 2 or 3 years of our lives so we can all relate to the time and hard work you've just invested. Congratulations. We are all so proud of you.

So, is it a press release? Hardly. Was it a moronic move sending our a direct mail piece like this -- you bet it was. Who does your marketing? Fire them.

Shakespeare almost had it right.

You need to read this article from Slate Magazine. It's a couple of years old and focuses on the US but it does a wonderful job of capturing the absurdity of residential real estate commissions.

Here's an excerpt with a link to the full article.

Reality Bites

Why Do You Still Need an Agent to Buy a Home?

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers," a character in a Shakespeare play famously remarks.

I have a different suggestion: Make it realtors.Here's why: Americans will spend about $1.14 trillion buying 6 million homes this year—both records. Yet the flat commissions paid to the realtors who handle the vast majority of those sales, averaging 5.1 percent, act as an enormous tax on the transaction process, taking wealth from both buyers and sellers in what for both is often the biggest financial transaction of their lives.

It's true that selling a house is a complex task. But so is writing a will, and an attorney doesn't ask for 5 percent or 6 percent of your net worth as compensation. Read more.

How does $100 in marketing expenses justify a $60,0000 commission?

An argument you'll often hear in defense of the commissions charged by real estate agents is that their costs of doing business has risen dramatically in the past few years. If you watched the piece from 60 minutes, you heard the agent talk about the increased cost of postage, gas, printing, etc. that eat into their profits.

I could see her point. Walk by the parking lot at the Kingsway Royal Lepage Branch and you'll see a very significant collection of Europe's greatest automakers --- BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche to name a few. With gas at a buck a litre, you can see how these poor people are clearly suffering.

But let's get back to the marketing full-service agents do. The so-called marketing plan that our agents put together for us included a 360 degree virtual tour of our home. They made it sound like it was some kind of super-costly value add that they offered. Truth be told, these virtual tours generally cost the agents about $100. Click here to see an online price list for a company that produces these for real estate agents. They also cobbled together an amateurish looking brochure with very poor quality photos they took themselves. Estimated cost for this piece of marketing wizardry -- $50 tops.

Our house sold for about $1.2 million. At a 5% commission our super-star agents shared $60,000 for a few hours work. Mind you, we have to factor in the cost of the virtual tour, printing a dozen colour brochures, a sign for the front lawn, and a few other incidentals which probably added up to about $300. Which leaves a very modest $59,700. That's tough.

Why Do We Let Real Estate Agents Get Away With It?

A few months ago as my family and I went through the stress of buying and selling a home, a story aired on CBS's 60 Minutes that had me jumping up and down and yelling at the TV.

The story was about an innovative new company that was reinventing the way we'll buy and sell real estate. Traditional real estate agents justify their commissions based on the complexity and work involved in marketing your home. If you've bought or sold a home in the Kingsway in the past few years you know that the your home pretty much sold itself as soon as the sign went up. If you're like me, doing the math on your agents 4% to 5% for a few hours work probably gave you a severe case of heart burn and left you feeling like a complete idiot.

Click the image on the right and watch the 60 Minutes story. Listen to the argument for high commissions that are presented by the "full-service" agent and see if you feel like I did when I first saw this story.

The Cover of Time Would be Impressive. This isn't.

I'm sure many of you have had a copy of "Profiles of Success" show up in your mail box extolling the virtue of a real estate professional. Come on. Please stop insulting the intelligence of your clients. You don't actually believe that we get this piece of crap and think "Wow! my agent is on the front-page and a magazine publisher decided to dedicate an entire issue to her."

We all know that the whole magazine is a paid advertisement. And knowing that makes reading the articles even more laughable.

Real Estate Marketing & Advertising Is a Bad Joke

Is it just me? Or do others find the quality of marketing and advertising in the residential real estate industry to be a complete joke?

Firstly, why do real estate agents believe that including their mug shot on every brochure, feature sheet or advertisement is a necessity? Now if you happen to look like Jill Johnson of the Royal Lepage Kingsway Branch then by all means --- bring it! But for the vast majority (everybody else), please do the world a huge favor and drop the ugly head shots.