It’s early days admittedly and the Arctic air mass that descended upon us earlier this month left most Winnipeggers feeling as frisky as their car batteries, but ComFree is off to a rousing start in 2007 nonetheless.
Private sale listings are up 100% so far this January.
Most of you, before ComFree’s arrival, felt you had no choice but to pay the huge premium (the thing the agents call their commission) to put your home on their Listing Service because you felt it was THE marketplace.
If you aren’t on the MLS, your home isn’t on the market, the agents would tell you, and still do.
Now you will have an effective alternative, because ComFree has done something that’s never been done before.
ComFree started in Winnipeg 11 years ago and became the first private sale company in North America to take an appreciable amount of market share away from the commissioned agents.
But our biggest impact to date has been in Edmonton. Launched in the vibrant, fast-growing Alberta capital just five years ago, ComFree now commands more than a third of that market.
Think about it: One of every three Edmonton homes for sale is listed with ComFree. We’re the largest real estate company in that city and that’s a North American first for a private sale company.
ComFree is nothing less than a consumer revolution. ComFree allows you to cut out the middle man and retake control of your most valuable asset – your home.
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The same way you’ve decided to book your own airline tickets, hotel reservations and car rentals or make your own stock trades online.
Once you’ve banked online, you wouldn’t go back to standing in line to wait for a teller to cash your cheque, would you? We’ve found the same thing to be true in every market: Once you’ve sold through ComFree, you’ll never consider turning your home, and a large wack of your equity, back to a stranger who doesn’t know your home as well as you and doesn’t have the same interest in maximizing your return.
The Market is Changing
ComFree’s system works well in any market. When buyers are many, it’s easy to sell a home. Why pay someone a huge commission to sell a basic human necessity when everyone is clamouring for what you’ve got.
But when homes are staying on the market longer, as they began to do last fall, and your home is competing against many other properties, ComFree works even better. Then, your asking price becomes the most important, and only, variable, you can control. If your price is competitive, you sell. If it’s not, then your home will languish on the market until you bring it down or the market changes. You can’t argue with the marketplace: That’s the one immutable rule of real estate. But listing with an agent makes it impossible to be as price-competitive as a private sale.
Remember, the money for the commission always comes out of your pocket.
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