ComFree must have really rattled the commissioned real estate industry. How do we know? Well, for one thing, we can only refer to them now as the commissioned real estate industry or, individually, as agents We can’t call them r**ltors any more.
And we can’t use the term M*S to refer to their listing service either. From now on, ComFree must only say the agents’ or the board’s listing service.
The words r**ltor and M*S were clearly too dangerous in our hands. So, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the umbrella body for all real estate boards across the country, which has registered the words r**ltor and M*S, has enjoined ComFree from using either r**ltor or M*S upon pain of prosecution. Yes, CREA can do that. The question is, why would they want to.
ComFree doesn’t complain when the r**ltors invoke ComFree’s name, even though we’ve trademarked it. Every homeowner who lists with us is inundated with letters from dozens of agents invoking our trademark. We just think it’s thoughtful of them to include us.
Even though CREA spends millions every year to make you familiar with the terms r**ltor and M*S, and they definitely want you to use the words r**ltor and M*S, they don’t want ComFree using them.
That might be because we have been known to point out that r**ltors are costing homeowners like you billions of dollars a year across Canada in needless commission fees by convincing you to list your home on their over-priced and inefficient M*S. As if it’s our fault
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ComFree’s marketplace can accomplish for $699 what you would have to spend many thousands to achieve on theirs.
So now we have to make the point by not using r**ltor or M*S. Oh well, life goes on.
And if you need further proof the r**ltors are rattled, consider what’s happening in Edmonton. ComFree there has captured a third of the listing market in that fast-growing western capital. That’s a statistical fact. Every third home on the market has our sign on the lawn, making ComFree Edmonton’s largest real estate office by a wide margin. And we’ve achieved this in only four and a half years in the Edmonton market.
So, motivated by what can only be ascribed to ill-considered panic, the Edmonton Real Estate Board issued a public complaint to the Alberta Real Estate Council, the regulatory body there, charging that ComFree was being unfair to r**ltors by claiming to have what marketshare it has, namely a third.
The story was picked up by the Edmonton Journal and ran on its Aug. 19 front page.
The public’s reaction? In a show of solidarity with the r**ltors, 700 Edmontonians listed their home with ComFree in August, instead of the usually 500.
The reaction of the Real Estate Council of Alberta to the r**ltors’ wounded pride? None. At least so far. And word from there is that it’s likely to stay that way.
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