LIVING "By the Real Estate Leaders" Summer 2018 Issue #15 | Page 7

network to a whole new level and settled the brand in the
market by letting people know that RE/MAX Egypt is here and
it’s growing fast.
The fourth significant milestone was expanding RE/MAX Egypt
outside of Cairo in areas like Alexandria, Mansoura, Tanta, and
the Red Sea. It wasn’t just about expanding the network in
different areas but also succeeding in those areas; today
RE/MAX is the leading real estate company in Alexandria.
Another important milestone for us is our subsidiaries, our
Mortgage Company “Charter Finance”, established in 2014, and
“RE/MAX Property Management”, established in 2017. By
adding these two subsidiaries to RE/MAX Egypt, not only do
they increase the size of our business, but they also give our
network a strong position in the market. Through these subsidi-
aries we are able to show our clients that RE/MAX Egypt is not
just a hit and run type of brokerage company, rather it is a
one-stop shop for all sorts of real estate services
What are some of the biggest challenges that
RE/MAX Egypt faced?
We had two big challenges, the first was conveying the value of
the franchising business. Franchising businesses are common
in the food and beverage industry, so people can easily under-
stand the value of buyin g a franchise for Burger King or
McDonald’s but in the service business for real estate broker-
age, franchising is not common. We met a lot of existing
brokers who didn’t understand why they should acquire a
franchise and why it was better for them compared to operat-
ing on their own.
The second biggest challenge was recruiting agents without a
salary. The market here is used to a salary concept where
agents work as employees. They are told what to do and have
set targets to deliver. On the other hand, the RE/MAX model
works the complete opposite. The agents are their own bosses;
they set their own financial goals, and don’t attend to specific
working hours rather they manage their own time and
business. So this was a huge challenge to not only recruit
people with that concept but to also have them perform and
produce under this model.
already has the price and payment terms set, and the agents
easily ride on the developer’s heavily invested marketing
campaigns. So if the developer’s reputation is good in the
market, like Emaar or Sodic or Palm Hills, and they introduce
a new project, all they have to do is launch a social media
campaign to generate leads. Then the agent calls these
clients, sends the developer their names and that’s it. The
agent books a client and takes a commission from the devel-
oper. In this case, the agent doesn’t engage in any negotia-
tions regarding the price, there are no showings, and no
marketing plan.
RE/MAX has a lot of values that others in the
market lack. In your opinion, which of these
values speak the most to people you are trying to
convince to join RE/MAX Egypt whether as an
Agent or Franchise Owner?
We have very specific values that attract people to RE/MAX.
First is the fact that RE/MAX is the number one real estate
brand worldwide, second is RE/MAX’s technology, third is our
training program, fourth is the network, and fifth is the
support they receive from us as a head office or from the
office owners and staff. Finally, the sixth value is the environ-
ment in the company. All these are very clear values that
make people want to join RE/MAX. In addition, the entrepre-
neurial or private business concept of RE/MAX is an impor-
tant value as well because not just anyone can join RE/MAX,
only those who are eager to develop a private business for
themselves, whether they are Agents or Franchise Owners.
Though to answer your question, out of all these values, the
most important ones that speak to people the most are
specifically; the brand name, training, and the network.
What makes a RE/MAX Agent different than others
in the market?
First of all, the RE/MAX Agent is the only agent in the market
who works for himself. They are all business owners and entre-
preneurs, they are not considered employees. The second
difference is that the RE/MAX Agent is capable of generating
their own leads and building relationships with clients. All
other agents working in the business wait for their companies
to do the marketing for them and give them leads. The agents
don’t know how to build relationships with clients, their only
focus is trying to sell real estate. On the other hand, RE/MAX
Agents don’t just sell real estate, they sell trust to the clients,
build relationships with them, and cater to their needs.
The third major difference is that a RE/MAX Agent can comfort-
ably work in both resale and primary real estate. They know
how to market and price the properties, and how to negotiate
the deals with the buyers and sellers. All other agents in the
market mainly work in primary real estate where the developer
Where do you see RE/MAX Egypt in five years from
now?
In five years from now, I see RE/MAX Egypt exceeding 80 to
100 Offices with a network of more than 1,000 Agents. We
also aim to expand even more throughout Egypt. We are
currently present in six out of 27 governorates, however, we
want to increase our presence in other areas as well, such as
Upper Egypt, the Delta Zone, the North Coast, and more areas
in the Red Sea.
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