by Paul McBeth
National company REAL reckons it's giving traditional estate agents a run for their money, using its innovative link-up of real estate, legal and mortgage broking services.
After only eight weeks on the blocks REAL has 27 offices open for business, will add another couple shortly (in Whangarei and Dunedin) and a further eight or nine offices in the near future.
National project coordinator Warwick Brown said the latest REAL newsletter carried over 900 listings and the company was pretty happy with its achievements given the state of the market. One of the country's largest home-building companies has also just agreed to list all its stock with REAL.
"We've ceased to be a joke to the real estate industry and they're starting to take us seriously," he said.
REAL operates differently from traditional real estate agencies - it has much lower commissions, for a start - and is associated with about 400 law firms. REAL will subsidise your REAL lawyer's conveyancing costs up to a set limit (and claims that, in most cases, you'll pay nothing).
Last week, ANZ announced a joint venture with legal firm Key Law and the Public Trust to offer conveyancing services it said would be up to 60 per cent cheaper. ANZ will offer conveyancing for $350 to customers taking mortgages, a move which Brown said would put a lot of pressure on many law firms.
"There are three components of home buying: the conveyancing, the buy/sell process and the money. If charges are being cut to the bone, you need to have your foot in all three camps."
"REAL has two agendas: one, to help the clients and public by bringing down the cost of real estate services and two, to help lawyers hang on to their clients and get them back in the loop."