Famous American comedian Jay Leno is talking to agents from around the world at the opening session of the Remax Conference held at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, USA. /Photo provided by Remax Korea

On the 2nd (local time) at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, USA. It was difficult to find space here with over 6,000 Remax agents from 62 countries around the world. This is because an international convention was held for 'Remax', the largest real estate brokerage franchise company in the United States and operating in over 100 countries around the world.

Remax invites agents every year to provide training programs and share helpful work experiences. Remax agents were busy learning more and creating business opportunities at this event, which only happens once a year. In fact, Remax agents were proactive enough to talk to reporters who visited the site for reporting whenever they had the chance.

Remax Agent was not the only one who visited the conference venue that day. Companies that seemed unrelated to real estate, such as AT&T, Hyundai Motor Company, Office Depot, and Bank of America (BOA), were also working hard to promote themselves. For them, the conference itself is an opportunity to expand their business. In this way, the real estate brokerage industry in the United States is not only a huge industry in itself, but is also creating various economic effects.

◇Real estate franchise industry competing with Starbucks=At this conference, Remax officials chose Starbucks, not other real estate brokerage companies, as their competitor. The reason is that in the United States, real estate franchises such as Remax are recognized as a promising industry that can compete with Starbucks. In many ways, including business scale, real estate franchises are ahead of other industries.

This could be felt at the conference site that day.

Quite a few people came from all over the world to buy the Remax franchise. Shin Hee-seong, CEO of Remax Korea, explained, “At the conference, there were many people from all over the world who came to buy franchises as well as Remax agents.” It is in the same context that Remax made an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2013. This is to expand the business by purchasing Remax franchises that were previously sold to individual businesses.

The promise of the real estate franchise industry was also confirmed by other indicators. The average number of employees at Korean brokerage firms is only 1.6. On the other hand, the United States has 3.3 people, which is twice as many as Korea. Meanwhile, the largest real estate brokerage franchise in the United States has at least 20 people per office. In large cities such as Los Angeles (LA), there are places where more than 200 people work in one office at the same time.

Larry Overly (pictured), Vice President of Remax, said, "In the past, many businesses in the U.S. operated in a small-scale format, but franchise owners running brokerage offices continued to attract good agents to expand their businesses, and the agents gathered in this way shared their experiences with each other. “By sharing, the company has continued to grow,” he explained.

Remax sold 946 franchises worldwide last year alone and operates 6,986 offices. Remax is currently operating in 98 countries and has a total of 104,800 agents.

◇About half of the U.S. housing market is transacted through large real estate franchises=It is also noteworthy that, unlike Korea, most homes in the United States are traded through large real estate franchises. Vice President Overly said, “Even in the 1970s, real estate brokerage was not considered a ‘professional industry’ even in the United States.” At that time, the market share of real estate brokerage franchises was close to zero.

He said, “However, in just 40 to 50 years, the market has changed to one led by large real estate franchises, and I believe that this same change will occur in Korea as customers experience advanced real estate brokerage services.”

In fact, in the United States, about 15% of all housing transactions are conducted through Remax, which has the largest market share. Housing transactions conducted through large real estate franchises such as Century 21, ERA, and Caldwell Bank total approximately 60%.

The advantage of such a large franchise is that customers can trust it because the service is provided by agents who have received professional and systematic training. Vice President Overly said, "Like Korea, online-based brokerage companies such as 'Zillow' are emerging in the United States, but the number of Remax brokerage cases is increasing every year, and more than 951 TP3T of Americans still transact real estate through agents." “In Korea, the wrong practices of the real estate brokerage industry appear to be leading consumers in a different direction,” he pointed out. /Las Vegas = Reporter Go Byeong-ki staytomorrow@sed.co.kr

Original link: http://www.sednews.com/NewsView/1KTO4C1EY7