Get some answers on Wednesday January 25 at our FREE Realtor Information Session!

Schmidt Realty Group is green and growing!  We have big plans to help more buyers and sellers than ever this year and are looking for the right people to join us.  If you or someone you know is considering real estate as a career, please talk to us.  We’ll help you discover if the real estate industry is what you are looking for and if we are the right group to help you succeed.  Take our real estate quiz below and see how you do!

• I get my satisfaction in life by helping others succeed.
• My honesty and integrity are prized possessions.
• People describe me as “high energy”.
• I get bored easily and love variety.
• I know a lot of people and am involved in my community.
• I desire a good income based on my personal efforts.
• I rise to the occasion when faced with a challenge.
• I thrive on  change!
• Making friends comes easily to me.                                                     
• I love to learn something new every day.
• At the end of each day I want to know I made a difference to someone!

If you answered YES to most of the questions above, you might want to learn more about our industry.  Plan to attend our REAL ESTATE INFORMATION SESSION on Wednesday January 25 at our office from 7pm to 8:30pm.  Please call our office at 780-437-2030 or email Schmidt@WeSellEdmonton.com to RSVP.

Kathy Schmidt, our broker, will be there along with Travis Ball, one of our team members.  Bring your questions and we’ll bring the answers and the refreshments!  Hope to see you there!

Get some answers on Wednesday November 16 at our FREE Realtor Information Session!

Schmidt Realty Group is green and growing!  We have big plans to help more buyers and sellers than ever this year and are looking for the right people to join us.  If you or someone you know is considering real estate as a career, please talk to us.  We’ll help you discover if the real estate industry is what you are looking for and if we are the right group to help you succeed.  Take our real estate quiz below and see how you do!

• I get my satisfaction in life by helping others succeed.
• My honesty and integrity are prized possessions.
• People describe me as “high energy”.
• I get bored easily and love variety.
• I know a lot of people and am involved in my community.
• I desire a good income based on my personal efforts.
• I rise to the occasion when faced with a challenge.
• I thrive on  change!
• Making friends comes easily to me.                                                     
• I love to learn something new every day.
• At the end of each day I want to know I made a difference to someone!

If you answered YES to most of the questions above, you might want to learn more about our industry.  Plan to attend our REAL ESTATE INFORMATION SESSION on Wednesday November 16 at our office from 7pm to 8:30pm.  Please call our office at 780-437-2030 or email Schmidt@WeSellEdmonton.com to RSVP.

Kathy Schmidt, our broker, will be there along with Travis Ball, one of our team members.  Bring your questions and we’ll bring the answers and the refreshments!  Hope to see you there!

Every November we meet for a team-building day.  We all enjoy time together to take a look back at the past year and also to look ahead to the new year.  Each year we re-visit our mission statement to ensure it continues to accurately represent the heart and mind of our brokerage.  This year we added three words that are very important to us.  “Innovative” and “collaborative” were added to better describe the way our team works. And “extraordinary” was added to better describe the kind of service we want each and every one of our clients to experience.  Please let us know what you think by leaving a comment!

OUR MISSION: Schmidt Realty Group uses an innovative and collaborative team approach to consistently deliver an extraordinary real estate experience.  Clients receive unparalleled service, value and results which they recommend to friends and family with complete confidence.  We conduct ourselves with the utmost integrity, professionalism and kindness. Together we bring success to our clients, honour to God and fulfillment to our lives by providing excellence in real estate.

Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group Inc.

Every year we attend an incredible real estate conference in the US.  This year the location for the Star Power Conference was beautiful Denver Colorado!  Star Power is an organization lead by Howard Brinton, an immensely respected real estate trainer.  Howard searches North America for top realtors (the stars), then interviews them and shares their “pearls of wisdom” with other realtors to help them serve their buyers and sellers even better and to grow their businesses.  Larry and I were immensely honoured to be interviewed by Howard in September 2008.  It was a thrill to be flown to Denver to meet with Howard and now to have the opportunity to share what we have learned with others.  At last month’s conference in Denver I had the privilege of speaking on leadership, a topic I am passionate about!  Other stars spoke on their areas of interest and expertise, and there was an incredible list of high-calibre guest speakers including Gary Keller, head of Keller Williams Realty and Larry Kendall, one of the top real estate trainers and forward-thinkers in our industry.  We gleaned some excellent ideas about effectively using social media such as Facebook to assist our sellers, and how to incorporate video into our blogsite.  We also were very affirmed in our overall business philosophy – our hearts are indeed in the right place!  It turns out that doing the right thing is being more and more recognized as also being good for business too! 

Conference "keeners" Mira Wannous,Sheri Grier,Sabrina Bright & Tim McRory!

At SCHMIDT we have always placed a huge degree of importance on our client relationships.  Putting our clients first is not only the right thing to do, but it feels great!  And guess what?  It also builds trust and long-term relationships that also help grow our business!  What we heard over and over at the conference was that today’s consumer is tired of being “sold” (did anyone ever really want that???) and is actively seeking relationships with professionals they can trust as their advisor.  That got a big “thumbs up” from our team as we listened to these respected industry leaders talk about “getting real” and “keeping it personal” and “staying in touch”.  That’s always been our goal – to form lasting relationships with our cilents while helping them make the best real estate decisions possible.   Sometimes it means staying put and renovating. Sometimes it means renting out the property.  Let us help you sort out your options and show you that we mean it when we say you truly come first.  Call on us any time you need a trusted real estate advisor!Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group

Just a few years ago, REALTORS held all the information.  If you wanted to find out the price of a home for sale, you either hoped the price was advertised in the local newspaper or you would have to call the listing REALTOR.  Then if you wanted to see inside that house, you had to book a showing with a REALTOR.  If you didn’t like that particular property, and wanted to hear about others for sale in the area, you needed to make an appointment to meet with a REALTOR to get a list of homes for sale. Gaining information was the key reason many people consulted a REALTOR.

Times have changed!  Information on homes for sale is readily accessible on the internet with interior photos normally available.  In fact, so many buyers start their search on the web that we now we refer to web hits on SCHMIDT listings as “First Showings”.  In the past, buyers would look at 20-30 homes and then pick their top 3 homes to view for a second time before making an offer.  Today’s buyer can easily view 100 homes onlines while sipping their morning coffee, and then book their top 3 to view for a “second time”.  On our website, buyers can search all MLS listings at their leisure, without ever speaking with a REALTOR. They can choose to view our newest listings, receive emails when we have new listings or even set up a permanent search so they are notified of all properties in a particular neighbourhood or price range.

So what’s the benefit of having a REALTOR?  Seth Godin is a marketing “guru” I admire and he addressed this very issue in a recent blog post about the changing role of the “middle man” in  industries such as travel and real estate.  Gone are the days when a REALTOR could get a license to sell, a license to drive and be in business!  What an “agent” in any industry must bring to the table today is “added value”!  In the case of real estate, this includes area knowledge, contract and negotiating expertise, and the experience to know how to take their clients successfully down the many twists and turns on the road to “SOLD”.  Helping a client create a focused search for a home he or she can afford that meets their wants and needs is not as easy as it sounds. With literally thousands of properties on the market where does one start?  House or condo?  Urban or suburban?  New or re-sale? Custom or spec? Upgraded or ready to renovate? Helping a client analyze their real needs vs their wish list can save thousands of dollars through ensuring the right property is chosen.  Moving is costly as well as time-consuming.  Taking the time to do it right is a smart investment, and a good REALTOR can make all the difference in the world.  Think about re-sale for instance.  What you might love in a home might be something very unique, and that’s great. But if you think you might be transferred in a couple of years then that “unique” home just became a potential roadblock as you search desperately for a buyer who wants exactly that rare shade of pink granite countertop or black bamboo flooring.  And what about inspection issues?  Surveys? Condo documents? Conditions?  These are just some of the areas where a skilled REALTOR adds invaluably to the process.  No longer simply the “keeper of information”, today’s REALTOR needs to customize their approach based on each client’s needs, bringing focus, clarity, knowledge and experience to the table.

At SCHMIDT, we understand that you expect a lot from your REALTOR.  We’re OK with that!

Contributed by Kathy Schmidt, Broker Owner of Schmidt Realty Group Inc.

At SCHMIDT we hand-pick and personally train each of our REALTORS to ensure that our style and level of service is consistent throughout our team.  We also work hard to make sure that it is the right fit both for the candidate and our team.  In-depth interviews help the prospective team member and us decide if working together will create a strong win-win outcome for everyone.  Our interviews are pretty relaxed and we definitely take the approach that we just want to get to know you and help you understand if real estate will be the right career choice for you! 

With that in mind, here is what NOT to expect in an interview at SCHMIDT

Have a laugh at this British video from YouTube.  This is what NOT to expect from the team at Schmidt Realty Group!

1. Stiletto-wearing REALTORS must be wary of all un-shoveled driveways and sidewalks that can conceal such hidden dangers as, oh, say, the curb!  Especially while neighbours across the street are witness to the graceful fall that may occuroff said disguised curb. Thank the good Lord I was wearing pants when this happened to me!

2. Take special precautions on all front porches with slats.  Stilettos love to fall between 2 x 4 and imitiation deck materials!

3. Be especially mindful of homes that have fresh snowpiles, next to benches that are playing host to lockboxes. Stilettos do not like to be submerged in snowpiles, especially knee deep ones!

4. Although they are amazingly stylish, stilettos have nice smooth bottoms that pose great risk on McDonald’s tile floors. Be especially careful whe making pit stops between properties! Choose a restaurant where they have kindly installed carpet for the fashion-minded. If one must visit a restaurant with tile floors, take heed from the more experienced, and hold onto any and all stable objects whilemaking the treacherous passage to the Ladies Room.

5. Sadly, at the end of the day, this weary REALTOR recommends that fashion civas forego the 5″ stilettos for the more sensitlbe 4 1/2″ kitten heel … at least until spring!

Contributed by Schmidt Realty Group REALTOR and Fashion Diva, Lisa Miller-Germain

Each year we host an Open House at our office. It’s a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity and a fun day to visit with our clients.  This particular year we had a balloon artist on site who decided that we all needed to wear hats for the day…

ATB Financial partners with us in this fundraising event so their van was on site for the day.  That’s our own Jeff Halaby on the roof!