The Arizona Republic ran a story yesterday about Gilbert based RE/MAX 2000 closing its 13 offices across the Valley. (Thanks to Cash at REIPipeline.com for the tipoff. He’s got a great new Phoenix based real estate investing blog BTW.)
According to the Republic, these closings affect 350 agents and 15 – 20 salaried employees. The agents can hang their license in all of 15 minutes at another brokerage — many real estate brokerages will let any warm body hang a license with them, no experience or ability required. (note, I am NOT saying these 350 agents have no ability. I’m sure many are outstanding. Fact is though, anyone with a license can find a broker willing to take them at a moment’s notice.)
Unfortunately for the 20ish salaried employees, it’s not going to be that easy. Merry Christmas. I wish them all the best of luck.
Jonathan Dalton reports these RE/MAX 2000 offices had about 1700 residential sales in 2007.
Officials are saying, “any sales or purchases already under way through RE/MAX 2000 will not be affected, and agents’ listings will follow them”.
The bubbleheads and agent haters are having a field day in the comments of the Republic article. ‘Tis the Season.
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[tags]Phoenix real estate, RE/MAX, another brokerage bites the dust[/tags]
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It’s never nice to hear about people being laid off or businesses closing. It’s even worse to read about it on Christmas Eve. Thankfully brokerages are always hiring agents and hopefully the salaried employees will find a new job soon. Thanks for the update … I’m going to check out what the agent haters have to say!!
Happy Holidays
Hey- thanks for the plug! Yes, my entire blog is dedicated to investing here in Arizona. It’s only a couple months old, but I’ve got some good information on it, I believe (trying to catch up to you!) I was pretty shocked to read that article as well. 13 offices closing doors, what a Merry Christmas, huh? Even for the agents- they all have to go find a new broker, re-print business cards, marketing materials, signs, notify their entire contact database. What a pain, I feel for them. Too bad they couldn’t hold out until after the Holidays. To me, it says a lot about the brokerage itself. Maybe they weren’t educating their agents well enough to keep producing income? Who knows- sad, either way…
Have a Merry Christmas!!!
AZ Short Sales, still, I can not load up your web page, it hangs. I tried it on a couple of computers, the page loads then it hangs, the CPU goes to 100%. I am sure others are having the same issue, you should look into it.
I am not too sad to hear!! When I moved here 3 years ago, these asses wouldn’t give me the time of day!! NOW I BUY HOUSES FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR!!!!
Horray to FORECLOSURES!!!!!!
Thank god I can do something with my money now!!! Besides I have bought and sold 85+ houses and NEVER used a Real Estate Agent!!!
ciao
Ready to Buy-
That’s awesome! I personally have done nearly 300+ deals, all without an agent as well. I just barely got my license a year ago to expand my monthly productivity and income. It’s a misconception that Realtors can’t find great deals for you. To be honest, I’m finding just as many deals off MLS as I ever did before buying notes, chasing vacants, knocking doors… The key is to find a great agent who knows what you’re looking for. You can GREATLY expand your portfolio and the number of deals you do every month by bringing in a good agent. Just something to think about. Just curious- how did these guys not give you the time of day? What were you asking them to do for you?
Frank-
I corrected what I thought was the problem- would you mind telling me what browser you’re using? At what point does it hang? I’ve tried multiple computers and browsers, and am not seeing any problems at all. Any details you have would be very appreciated.
AZ Short Sales,
Both machines are Dell notebooks running windows XP, Internet Explorer 6.0. One from work running XP Pro and most of the software on it are installed by the Company and the other has the basic XP and IE software. The webpage status says it is “Done” loading with an hour glass mouse pointer, but when looking at that IE instance using Task Manager, it shows 100% CPU utilization.
“Ready to Buy” – Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.
But not all real estate agents are like whatever you experienced… I’d be curious to know more too..
YOu’re more than welcome for the plug REI, you’ve got a great blog going… (though personally, I don’t like requiring registration to comment. But that’s just my opinion…
Merry Christmas to you as well!
Specifically-I NEVER OFFER OR PAY A LISTING PRICE!! So in a nut shell most (now out of work agents)would not deal with me making embarrasing offers!!!!! I am however a cash buyer, moved here from another state and would NEVER pay the prices they (formerly asked) here!!! In fact, the bottom is ready to drop out and I am going to make a fortune purchasing the homes that are vacated by foreclosures!!
I was offering what the houses are NOW selling for!! I am not the most “experienced” buyer, but I am not a sucker that I would put about 50,000+ people in!!!!
$425,00=$210,000 GET MY DRIFT!!!! You may say I am dreaming, but if you wanna see the papers, I will fax’em to you!!!!!
THE MARKET IS GREAT IF YOU SPECULATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jay, I agree- been meaning to switch it off of a registration, but keep forgetting. Thanks for the reminder!
Ready to Buy- I personally find deals like that all day long for myself and my investor clients. I am curious where you’re finding your deals at more than 50% discount. Any insights?
Jay,
This is funny because I worked at RE/MAX 2000 as a transaction coordinator and agent for one of the larger teams there. This office was like the Walmart of Gilbert real estate. Sales/Listings were through the roof and only Realty Executives came close to matching it.
I remember that Bob (Robert Kline) wanted the Century 21 office that sat on the other end of the old ABCO parking lot. I understand he eventually got it too. He was using his clout and purchasing power to buy up everything and to get any and all agents he could.
This was back in 03 or 04 or so. It’s funny to see how a juggernaut could fall so easily. All depends on the market I guess. His net worth back then was insane.. I’m in another industry now, but wow.. this is quite a shock.
Merry Christmas indeed, Jay. We haven’t had any major office closures, but there have been some bankruptcy filings for reorganizational purposes. Here’s to a better year for everyone in ‘08.
I just heard about this on a forum I visit. It’s really unfortunate to see all of those people put out of work like that. I haven’t heard of any offices in Atlanta closing, but I’m sure things will get worse before they get better.