rlpSPHERE maximizes brokerage, team and agent productivity and profitability
TORONTO, Sept. 23, 2020 /CNW/ – Royal LePage, Canada’s largest real estate company, has launched its widely anticipated new digital brokerage ecosystem, rlpSPHERE. The technology drives brokerage, team and agent businesses struggling with unwieldy traditional tools through powerful websites, superior lead generation, compelling client insight, and an automated client nurturing system, which has natural and intuitive features that delight consumers and experienced professionals alike. With an AI-powered Smart CRM and analytics to track both overall business status and specific opportunities, brokers and agents are freed to be more strategic and increasingly efficient, optimizing their time with active clients while converting prospects in their sphere of influence into satisfied customers.
“We recognized that the quantity of technology being purchased by agents and brokerages was vast and ungovernable. These tools were islands, adding some value in a narrow, functional way but unable to communicate across the enterprise or to positively impact the professional life of a real estate professional,” said Phil Soper, president and CEO, Royal LePage. “We saw the unique opportunity to create a fully integrated solution built with AI programming that rapidly adapts to our professionals’ needs so that they can succeed in the fast-changing, unpredictable world of real estate brokerage. To be fair to our large national team, we knew it had to work on any platform, mobile or desktop. And, it had to be cloud-based so that our people could be productive anywhere, anytime. rlpSPHERE fulfills this audacious vision.”
At its heart, the rlpSPHERE system boasts extensive Canadianization and brand customization of the highly sought after kvCORE platform, creating a powerful all-in-one solution uniquely tailored to the needs of Canadian brokerages, REALTORS®1 and teams. rlpSPHERE is deeply imbued with Royal LePage’s marketing expertise and integrated into Royal LePage’s internal systems providing a seamless experience for agents, teams and brokers to run every aspect of their business.
“As the leader in real estate technology in Canada, we are providing our network with a competitive advantage, leveraging best-in-class consumer and agent technology, optimized to achieve meaningful business outcomes. In early results, energized sales teams are sharing that they’ve established a dominant online presence, engaged with new customers and re-engaged with existing ones. They foresee that they will increase their overall business and consumer service levels whether they are new or experienced agents,” said Carolyn Cheng, COO, Royal LePage.
rlpSPHERE includes cutting-edge productivity tools in a mobile-ready environment. Standout features include:
Fully customizable brokerage, team and agent websites with the latest consumer search options including polygon map search, search by school catchment area, filtering by lifestyle data, search by travel time as well as recommended listings based on your search criteria.
A robust Lead Engine featuring unlimited custom landing pages and IDX squeeze pages as well as built-in paid Google and Facebook advertising options via an integrated Marketplace.
Intelligent, customizable lead routing and accountability options at the brokerage and team levels to optimize lead conversion.
A Smart CRM and native mobile app with dynamic lead follow up and automated nurturing campaigns to engage more leads and sphere of influence contacts.
Integrated and branded digital, print and social media marketing templates and options.
The rlpSPHERE platform also provides powerful options for team leaders, empowering Royal LePage teams to manage their business complete with their own branding, full database ownership and privacy as well as lead routing that is independent yet still leverages their brokerage’s services and Royal LePage national systems.
“We’re honoured to be the long-term technology partner, powering Canada’s leading real estate brand,” said Joe Skousen, president of Inside Real Estate. “Working with the talented and forward-thinking leadership team at Royal LePage to successfully customize our kvCORE platform, has been incredibly rewarding. One of our goals as a technology partner is to empower greater success and profitability for the agent, team and brokerage, with a brand-customized experience. It’s provided us another great opportunity to demonstrate not only the robust capabilities but also the flexibility of our platform. We’re thrilled to see the launch of rlpSPHERE to Royal LePage brokers, teams and agents to help drive bottom-line results – especially at a time when real estate professionals are relying on their technology more than ever.”
The rollout of rlpSPHERE began in spring 2020 and will continue through the coming months. Available in both English and French, the core solution will be provided at no cost to the company’s agents and brokerages. Early response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“It’s a career changing system! It gives me the data, organization and structure to stay engaged and focused on what needs to be done on a day-to-day basis,” said Carlo De Castris, sales representative, Royal LePage Royal City Realty, Brokerage. “The automated nurturing and behavioural automation is surprisingly natural, human and personalized. I’ve closed 3 sales, secured an additional listing and have a steady flow of leads that I might not have otherwise had this summer.”
To learn more about rlpSPHERE, please visit rlp.ca/rlpsphere_video.
About Royal LePage Serving Canadians since 1913, Royal LePage is the country’s leading provider of services to real estate brokerages, with a network of approximately 18,000 real estate professionals in over 600 locations nationwide. Royal LePage is the only Canadian real estate company to have its own charitable foundation, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, dedicated to supporting women’s and children’s shelters and educational programs aimed at ending domestic violence. Royal LePage is a Bridgemarq Real Estate Services Inc. company, a TSX-listed corporation trading under the symbolTSX:BRE. For more information, please visit royallepage.ca.
About Inside Real Estate: Inside Real Estate is a fast growing, independently-owned real estate software firm that serves as a trusted technology partner to over 200,000 top brokerages, agents and teams. Their flagship product, kvCORE Platform, is the most modern and comprehensive solution in the industry known for delivering profitable growth at every level of a brokerage organization. Built on a modern, scalable and flexible architecture, kvCORE enables every brokerage to create their own unique technology ecosystem through custom branding, robust integrations and high-quality add-on solutions. With an accomplished leadership team and over 175 employees, Inside Real Estate brings the resources, scale and vision to deliver ongoing innovation and success to their growing customer base.
1 The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS® and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA.
SOURCE Royal LePage Real Estate Services
For further information: Media Contacts: Royal LePage, Sarah Louise Gardiner, Director, Communications and Investor Relations, (647) 961-2260, [email protected]; Inside Real Estate, Media Contact: 801-407-9833
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
