Our Blog

(Kelowna, BC, April 28, 2010)

– RE/MAX has been awarded Most Trusted Residential REALTOR® as

voted on by readers of

Reader’s Digest magazine. The survey conducted for the annual awards revealed

that the majority of Canadians trust RE/MAX for all their residential real estate needs, ranking RE/MAX

associates five-times more ‘trusted’ than the second most trusted brand.

“Our associates should be proud and honoured to receive the confidence of Canadian consumers as the

Most Trusted Residential REALTOR®,” says Elton Ash, Regional Executive Vice President for

RE/MAX of Western Canada. “It’s an inspiring merit that the best trained and most experienced agents

have received for providing valuable assistance to so many families.”

Ash believes that this distinction awarded to Canadian RE/MAX associates is due in part to two notable

attributes. The first being “Premier Community Citizenship” - a quality that RE/MAX associates share

by being ever-mindful of the impact they make locally as they are involved with their communities

through volunteering, fund-raising and more.

The second is that RE/MAX associates carry more professional designations than any other REALTOR®

in Canada. RE/MAX agents are invested in additional education in specialized areas such as Senior’s

representation, commercial brokerage and luxury homes.

RE/MAX is Canada's leading real estate organization with over 17,500 sales associates situated

throughout its more than 680 independently-owned and operated offices across the country. The

RE/MAX franchise network, now in its 37th year, is a global real estate system operating in more than 70

countries. Over 6,500 independently-owned offices engage over 115,000 member sales associates who

lead the industry in professional designations, experience and production while providing real estate

services in residential, commercial, referral, and asset management. For more information, visit:

www.remax.ca.

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For more information:

Rhia Bachynski

RE/MAX of Western Canada

Office: (250) 860-3628

The silver glint of the Century Park LRT station is the main display photo for a Blue Quill condominium listing on real estate agent Mike Muranetz's website.

"Why pay high property values for location when this half duplex is only a few minutes' commute to the University of Alberta area?" the listing reads. Buyers see the area as a more desirable place to live now because of its proximity to the station, Muranetz said.

So how will this pool of new prospects find you?

The CREA survey says that just 8% will start their home search by phoning a REALTOR®. The number one choice to start the home search is on the Internet. 87% of all home buyers will be looking at web sites, blogs and other Internet sources to find a real estate representative.

Let’s look at the numbers another way. Of the 20,000 home buyers who will enter the market in the Edmonton area this year 11,000 do not have a REALTOR® yet. Over 9,500 of those potential new clients will start their home search on web sites, blogs and other Internet sites. Some of them will want to work with REALTORS® they “met” on Social Media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Considering that web sites and blogs have been around for most of a decade and operating them is almost free, it is astounding that so many REALTORS® are not using them effectively to attract new business.

Edmonton’s new home builders continued to ramp up production in March. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), housing starts in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) totalled 813 units in March compared with 135 units in March 2009. This represented the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year improvements in housing starts.

Single-detached home builders started work on 513 units last month, almost five times the 105 singles started in March last year. “The industry is attempting to replenish single-detached inventories that have been driven to low levels by a reduction in completions and relatively brisk demand,” noted Richard Goatcher, CMHC’s Senior Market Analyst based in Edmonton. So far this year, foundations were poured for 1,394 units compared with 401 singles recorded in the first three months of 2009.

While apartment starts were up in March from the same month last year, production levels so far are down by 64% from January to March of 2009 due to persistently high inventories.

Housing starts in Alberta’s seven largest centres totalled 1,957 units in March compared with 605 starts in the same month last year. Strong increases in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Red Deer easily countered year-over-year declines in Wood Buffalo, Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat.

More information can be found online on CMHC's web site.

Kelowna, BC (April 14, 2010) – RE/MAX of Western Canada is proud to support National Organ Donor Awareness Week, April 18-25, 2010, designated by the Canadian Society of Transplantation. RE/MAX has partnered with Aquarius Marketing to power www.LiveOn.ca, a newly developed website that has been designed as a touch point to facilitate easy access to the applicable registration information for each provincial transplant agency.  With the continued support of RE/MAX of Western Canada and other organizations helping spread the word on the need for organ donors, the BC Transplant Organization performed an amazing 211 organ transplants in 2009. 

Registering your decision to become an organ donor can save up to eight lives and improve the quality of life for up to 80 others. The critical shortage of donors is only increasing, as fewer people are dying in ways that make organ donation an option. This is due to positive factors - improved safety measures such as airbags and helmet laws, as well as continued advancements in medical care. Nonetheless, the average person is far more likely to need an organ transplant than to be eligible to donate an organ.  The good news is that everyone is a potential organ & tissue donor, regardless of their age. To date the oldest Canadian organ donor was over 90 years of age while the oldest tissue donor was 102 years old. 

Canada ranks 11^th place when compared to other countries with 14.8% actual organ donation per million people. Spain has the highest rate (34.3%), followed by Belgium (28.2%) and the USA (26.6%).  “It is our hope raising awareness about the shortage of organ donors will encourage the public to discuss their wishes with their families and make the decision to register as an organ donor”, said Elton Ash, Regional Executive Vice President, RE/MAX of Western Canada. “Canada has the opportunity to set a record-breaking year for organ transplants in 2010 and for many years to come.  By educating ourselves on organ donation in our province of residence, we can all make this possible.”  

RE/MAX is Canada's leading real estate organization with over 17,500 sales associates situated throughout its more than 680 independently-owned and operated offices across the country.  The RE/MAX franchise network, now in its 37th year, is a global real estate system operating in more than 70 countries.  Over 6,500 independently-owned offices engage over 115,000 member sales associates who lead the industry in professional designations, experience and production while providing real estate services in residential, commercial, referral, and asset management.  For more information, visit: www.remax.ca.  

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For more information: 

Marie Sheppy 

RE/MAX of Western Canada   

Office: (250) 860-3628

www.remax-western.ca

“Re/Max affiliates have truly embraced this worthy cause,” says Marie Sheppy, senior co-ordinator, corporate affairs (Children’s Miracle Network liaison). “This is especially evident when we gather annually to celebrate our successes as an organization and as individuals.” Stories of children recovering and receiving successful treatment were shared with more than 600 Re/Max delegates in attendance. Edmonton Mayor Stephan Mandel proclaimed it “Miracle City Day” for the Edmonton Re/Max sales associates. 

Re/Max River City in Edmonton was recognized for being the top contributing office for the Stollery Children’s Hospital for the fourth consecutive time.

Re/Max Kelowna and Re/Max Kelowna Westside real estate agents gathered for their own annual Live & Silent Auction at the Rotary Centre for the Performing Arts in Kelowna recently.  The event raised $45,335 for B.C. Children’s Hospitals. In 2009 Re/Max Kelowna was once again recognized as the top contributing office in the Re/Max of Western Canada organization.