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Sage Real Estate Revolution?


BuzzBuzzHome Corp.

November 3, 2o1o

Yes, for this post, we are asking whether Sage Real Estate is starting a revolution in the resale home market.

But please don’t expect a hard-line critical analysis, because, quite simply, Sage is the first broker in the GTA to offer personalized online home marketing. Just the facts!

Note, there are many many fantastic agents who “get it”, such as Mark Savel and Amit and Roy (to name a few), but until now we had not seen any Canadian Brokerages who got it…

It’s slightly amusing to think that people used to use newspaper advertisements as their primary source of info on homes for sale. Now, over 90% of people that are looking for a new home start their search online.

And what are some of the most highly trafficked sites?? YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln—all of which become the primary targets for Sage’s marketing techniques, which also include a customized website with its own URL to target search engines, using up to 30 professionally taken photos and complete property description.

Ok so you may be slightly more critical than I, and comment, ‘ya but, social media aside, isn’t it still all about the service and know-how of a real estate company that really matters?’

Hang on, let me ask Evan Sage, Vice-President:

“As consumers habits change, there are lots of new skills for Realtors to develop, but it doesn’t mean that we need to throw the baby out with the bath water. Search Engine Optimization and Twitter are great, but buying and selling a person’s home is often the largest investment that individuals make, relying on the experience, analysis, coaching and personal attention of a good Realtor. Sage Real Estate will continue to lead the Toronto market as consumers demand change, but it will be carried out by our great Realtors who know how to ensure their clients are getting the best value.”

There you have it, way more exposure and information combined with great Realtors = real estate revolution.
This will be an interesting brokerage to watch!

Posted on November 3, 2010 | buzzhomeblog Posted in Uncategorized |
  • Anonymous

    Great way to sell a house. Much less work for the buyer as well as the seller. It's about time.

    VG

  • Anonymous

    Seems to make sense to me…Consumer habits are changing so a brokerage firm that changes with the consumers is going to be ahead of the curve.

    DGS

  • Anonymous

    We've been doing personalized websites for our listings for years, as have many other agents. The use of social media is definitely also becoming par for the course in marketing listings, as it should be. I'm not clear on what Sage is offering that is revolutionary?

  • Anonymous

    We live in such an online-based society these days and this makes home marketing that much easier. Seems like an efficient way to sell a house.

    JS

  • Anonymous

    Um they arent so revolutionary. I can find you brokerages, brokers and sales-reps who "get it" way better than Sage. In fact Evan Sage's own homepage didn't even reflect his recent move from Royal Lepage to Sage until earlier today.

    Is this blog post a commentary or advertorial???

  • BuzzBuzzHome

    Hello Anonymous #6..

    Yes please. Could you give us any examples of brokerages in Canada who understand the online world, and utilize it to the full extent? No. We are not looking for brokers or sales-representatives. Only Brokerages.

    Again, there are many many agents who I am seeing doing an excellent job, but I have yet to see a brokerage.

    However, BuzzBuzzHome is not a brokerage, so maybe we are wrong and missed a brokerage who is embracing the online world.

    Please let us know.

    Thank you.

    Commentary vs. advertorial. It is commentary and opinion.

  • Anonymous

    Brad Lamb's been doing it for years. Chestnut Park, Harvey Kalles were early adopters of Virtual Reality on websites. ReMax Realtron is great with it as well.

    The bottom line is a brokerage's success isn't measured on their use of social media its measured on their customer satisfaction. A strong social media platform can only carry you so far in real estate and in fact of the TREB top 10 earners last year only 1 of them tweets, is on Linkedin or uses Facebook.

    Social media cred is important but real estate resale is a different animal or entity. I do like some of your points but I just dont see what Sage offers as being so revolutionary. In fact i just got a print card at my home this morning direct mail for a property listed by a "sager" and there are no QR codes and as well there is no direct link to a URL for the property. Basically i like the ideals they are founded on but if there is no consistency amongst their agents and ads then why bother

  • Evan

    Hey Anonymous,

    Sage Real Estate here.

    Thanks for all of the positive comments.

    We certainly wouldn't claim a revolution, but we do appreciate Matts positive review. There is no doubt that consumers want to look for real estate online and those that listen will represent the majority of the top 10 in the near future.

    We agree that there is a lot more to a succesfull Brokerage than digital marketing and social networking. Fortunately Larry Sage has 33 years working in central Toronto and 16 of those years were owning/managing a very respectable franchise.

    We also wouldn't claim to be the first brokerage that sends out emails or virtual tours.

    But, we are establishing digital marketing strategies at a Brokerage level and we are handling the development and implementation in house along with training and coaching. All of this is also being done for no extra fees or costs than agents are already paying elsewhere.

    QR codes in our materials was implemented very recently, and I am shocked that something has gone out missing the direct URL. Please email me the property address so I can look into it. Esage@sagerealestate.ca

    As for my own personal website, you are right. Trust me, it was a major frustration and I know I have a few more grey hairs for it.

    If Anonymous wishes to hear more details or specifics we would certainly welcome a conversation via e-mail, phone or over a coffee.

    Thanks for the engagement.

  • Anonymous

    Its about time!

  • Anonymous

    As a recent homebuyer, I spent most of my time looking for properties online. I wish I'd known about Sage six months ago!

  • Anonymous

    It sounds like Sage Real Estate is counting on the promise of technology to give them a competitive edge in the Real estate market. Hopefully, the technology will not disappoint, as it did when the tech bubble couldn't deliver to its promises a bunch of years ago.

    The customers and agents "real" needs should be driving how new technology is deployed to their advantage. Applying technology, for technology's sake is fun, but typically a waste of time and money.

    Having said that, Sage Real Estate does not appear to be offering anything substantially more than some of the more progressive brokerages already offer. At least noting more that couldn't be easily replicated by other, should they choose to do so.

  • Evan

    Sage hear again….
    Anonymous you are absolutely right, technology for technology’s sake is a waste of time and effort.

    But when the majority of home buyers (90% according to a US NAR stat) use the internet during their home search, does it not make sense to focus a comparable amount of energy marketing a listing in such a way to specifically reach those people? And that is what we are doing at a brokerage level. We build individual listing websites then launch a digital campaign geared specifically to expose that property to as many potential buyers as possible. As Matt said in his article, there are a number of great realtors out there doing exactly that already. We are simply doing it at the brokerage level to ensure all our listings get maximum exposure online.

    And again you are right, there is no reason why other brokerages could not start doing the same. In fact on our corporate blog we talk about what we do, why we do it, and how we do it. We don’t hide it because we see great value to the end consumer in what we do and hope that other agents will pick up a trick or two and apply it to their business. Consumers are screaming for more value from their agents and we as an industry need to hear that and step up our game.

    I would love to continue this discussion with you please drop me a line 416 483 8000 or send me an email esage@sagerealestate.ca.

  • Evan

    Sorry i really meant to type – Sage here again…. not Sage hear again….

  • Anonymous

    Training and Coaching is common at many brokerages in fact i emailed a few agents at several of Toronto's busiest offices and Sage isn't the only one but very good on you guys for continuing the trend.

    Sutton Bayview was always a great office with great sales reps and the re branding is a fresh thing for the GTA community but this blog post stated that you guys are certainly not starting a revolution or reinventing the wheel as personalized home marketing has been around for many years in Toronto. I just found the blog post to be inaccurate and a little fluffy.

  • BuzzBuzzHome

    ^^Hello Anonymous Above,

    I disagree with your point that the post is inaccurate. Yes. Maybe a bit fluffy!

    I hold to the fact that the Canadian market, until now, has been lacking a brokerage that has been able to execute great online marketing strategies for their clients. As such, such a brokerage is a revolution for Canada.

    If you work for or know of any other such brokerages, please let us know. We would be happy to talk about them.

    I am loving this discussion, and I think it could turn into a great conversation and debate on online marketing strategies for the real-estate industry.

    May I suggest that someone starts the discussion in the BuzzBuzzHome Forums? They provide a much better and easier to use interface for conversations and debates.

    http://www.buzzbuzzhome.com/forum

    Looking forward to continuing this great discussion.