On our 150th birthday, a uniquely Canadian success story
Real estate giant RE/MAX is easily recognized for its name and its hot air balloon logo, one of the most iconic symbols in North America. But what’s not so commonly known is its proud Canadian roots.
Thanks to two Canadians with immigrant beginnings and an unwavering entrepreneurial spirit, RE/MAX has grown in Canada to be the industry leader it is today. From a humble start in a Mississauga basement some 37 years ago, when mavericks Frank Polzler and Walter Schneider bought the rights to the company in Eastern Canada, RE/MAX INTEGRA, as it came to be called, has expanded to include 36 countries and more than 36,000 agents, including 900 in Ottawa alone.
But one thing that has never been forgotten is the importance of each and every client. And having a global network to continually draw on for new ideas to help those clients is a powerful tool.
“We don’t rest on our laurels,” says Schneider, who is president of the company. “We know that tomorrow as an organization we’ve got to be better than we are today because we don’t want to stand still.”
It’s that philosophy to constantly improve that first brought Schneider and the more senior Polzler together in the late 1970s. Despite a 20-year age difference, there was kinship in their shared heritage: Both of their families hail from the same region in Austria, with Polzler arriving in Canada as a young man in 1953 and landing in the same Toronto neighbourhood where, 11 days earlier, Schneider was born to immigrant parents.
“You think about the stars being aligned,” Schneider muses.
A baker by training, Polzler was forced to give it up not long after immigrating (constantly breathing in fine flour particles led to emphysema) and instead turned to real estate, setting up his own company. Years later, Schneider joined him after finishing a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Toronto.
Before long, these like-minded entrepreneurs began exploring ways to grow the business, quickly seizing on a bold new idea emerging south of the border.
“It was the typical story of a young company starting out,” Schneider recalls. “Undercapitalized, limited resources, controversial concept.”
That controversial concept was a rethinking of the way real estate offices and agents were organized and supported, giving a more appealing option for independent Realtors who were up against what Schneider calls the “old established blueblood” of large trust companies and banks controlling the industry.
The idea was sparked by American Dave Liniger, who was running a small operation in Denver, Colorado, but it wasn’t until Polzler and Schneider came along and bought up rights to the concept and the name in Eastern Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and select states through the Midwest and New England that the company really took off. Today, the company Polzler and Schneider have built, RE/ MAX INTEGRA, represents about one-third of the worldwide RE/MAX brand.
“We’re fiercely proud of the fact that we’re Canadian,” says Schneider. “It’s kind of cool that RE/MAX is a Canadian-centric company that has gone and expanded in the global arena.”
That global reach brings a huge benefit to the individual buyer and seller.
“They get to plug into a global network of 110,000 people,” Schneider says, referring to the larger RE/MAX community. “We’re in 100 countries, and while North America is the driving force behind that, great new ideas come from places like Portugal and Israel and Argentina. We take those best practices and we share them.”
Echoing that sentiment, Ottawa broker and owner of RE/MAX Absolute Realty Joanne Goneau adds that it’s not just about pulling those benefits in, it’s about spreading the word out, too. And for a diverse city such as Ottawa, with a high transient and multicultural population, that’s important.
“When people want to move to Ottawa, we have the ability to give sellers listing exposure not only across Canada, but around the world.”
Part of that exposure comes from the company’s “crazy online presence,” says Jarrod Davis of RE/MAX Core Realty in Ottawa. “Close to 90 per cent of buyers or sellers start online … and when we look at the diversification of people here in Ottawa, having an international presence is huge.”
Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, ultimately you have one goal in mind: you want results, says Steve Tabrizi, owner of RE/MAX Hallmark Realty. And that’s what RE/ MAX’s extensive network, marketing, support services and experienced agents provide.
“They can deliver the results,” he says. “On top of that, you’re dealing with a company that cares about the community. With the Ottawa floods, we were one of the first companies that started a campaign” to help flood victims, raising $10,000 so far.
Giving back is a core philosophy for the company, which has supported the Children’s Miracle Network for decades, raising more than $60 million for children’s hospitals across the country in the process. Also big are the programs Sold on a Cure (for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation) and Miracle Home (supporting the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario locally), in which a percentage of agent commissions go toward these worthy causes.
But it’s not just corporate initiatives that are encouraged. From individual agents to local offices and all through the company, countless fundraising, community support and awareness projects take place each year.
Ottawa has been a focal point for growth of the company over the past several years.
“It’s the nation’s capital, so it’s the biggest feather in your cap,” says RE/MAX Affiliates Realty broker Kevin Grimes.
That attention has resulted in RE/MAX becoming No. 1 in market share in Ottawa, as it is across much of the country.
“If you’re No. 1 in your market, it’s an indication that you’re doing the right thing,” says Grimes. “No. 1 is the cherry on top. You’ve got to do a lot of things right to get there.”