by Paul McBeth
Real estate, lawyer and mortgage broking combo REAL is continuing the fight to establish market share, in spite of ongoing criticism from some established players.
The firm was launched in July and has just opened branches in Whangarei and Dunedin, taking its real estate chain to 27. It has links with over 400 law firms and its business recipe, which includes lower commissions than a number of other realtors and a requirement to use REAL-linked lawyers, has ruffled a number of feathers.
Starting out when times were tough anyway in the housing market has also caused the firm some financial constraints, but REAL’s still sounding upbeat. Its National Real Estate Manager Ian Grindle says it's planning a second Northland branch, is now printing three separate editions of its weekly listings magazine and is seeing a "high level of activity" throughout its branches.
The Dunedin branch opening was delayed a month by an objection from the Real Estate Institute, which said that the branch wasn’t under the proper control of the principal licensee. However, REAL said that a statutory hearing (held in terms of the Real Estate Agents Act) ruled in its favour.
In fact, the Real Estate Institute (of which REAL is a member) went so far as to issue a press statement last month headed "REAL difficulty unfortunate but predictable" and saying that the public appeared reluctant to accept a low cost service (see our earlier story).
Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.
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