Breaking news this late afternoon- the AZ Dept of Real Estate is going to perform an audit on RE/MAX 2000, as reported by azcentral.com. RE/MAX International is also interested in performing their own internal audit, but owner Robert Klein has yet to agree to that.
The purpose of the audit is to insure that the trust accounts were handled correctly. Specifically, funds were not commingling between the Sales Divisions and the Property Management Divisions. As of right now, the Property Management division is still open for business.
The article states that owner Robert Kline informed RE/MAX International days before Christmas that their agents’ commissions checks were going to start bouncing. Agents and employees were notified two days before Christmas that they were closing their doors.One agent estimates that there are over $111,000 in commissions that are supposed to be paid out. Kline is instructing title companies to cut the checks directly to their agents, instead of to the brokerage itself.
Now, I will not reveal my sources, but I have been told by insiders in the industry that this brokerage has been known to bounce it’s agent’s commission checks occasionally. This has been happening for quite a while (read, years) before this entire incident surfaced. Read the original post earlier this week titled "RE/MAX 2000 Closes Down in Gilbert, AZ". It’ll be interesting to find out what happens.
I just came across an article posted yesterday over at azcentral.com. Apparently RE/MAX 2000 closed down on this past Friday, leaving 350 agents and 20 salaried employees without a job right before the holidays. 13 Offices closed its doors just 2 weeks after their company Christmas Party. One agent, quoted in the article, "did not see this coming". What a nice Holiday Gift for everyone, huh? Dax Watson, the attorney for the owner, stated that the company just wasn’t producing enough revenues to outperform the expenses. Keep in mind, this is one ‘branch’ of RE/MAX, it’d be equivelant to a handful of McDonald’s or Arby’s closing down specific locations. It’s still pretty shocking nonetheless.
It is my opinion that to be able to stay alive in the Real Estate market, you must be able to stay flexible, and adapt to the changes in the market place. This means not only staying up with technology, but adapting to the supply/demand issues presented. Learning the foreclosure process, how to get short sales approved, and bankruptcy law is going to become common ground for any agent wishing to survive this market. Finding deals for themselves and for other investors would certainly keep many alive and going strong. However, I know for a fact that there are some agents out there who have learned this, and are doing more business now than they ever did before. That’s encouraging to know the investors and foreign buyers are flooding into our marketplace.
UPDATE- AZ Department of Real Estate is performing an Audit on RE/MAX 2000
