How to Choose a Brokerage in Calgary

The short version

Compare five things: who you can call on a live deal, the training you’ll actually use, total cost (not just the split), the brand on your sign, and the people you’ll sit beside. Then visit the office on a normal weekday. You’ll learn more in an hour there than in a week of reading recruiting pages, including this one.

Total cost, not just the split

A split is one line on a page. Ask for the full picture: monthly or desk fees, per-transaction fees, caps, franchise or brand fees, E&O insurance, board dues, and what’s included versus extra. Then run it against last year’s deals, not your best year. Two plans that look far apart on paper are often close once you add it all up. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. The cheapest brokerage is cheap for a reason, so judge the fee against what you get for it.

Support on a live deal

Ask who picks up when a deal goes sideways at 7 p.m. on a Friday. Is it a broker who has done this before, or a form? How fast do files get reviewed? Is there a lawyer you can ask? This is the part of a brokerage you don’t notice until you need it, and then it’s the only part you notice.

Training after your first year

Most offices train new agents. Fewer keep teaching experienced ones. Look for regular sessions on things that change: legislation, contracts, technology and AI. If the calendar is empty after onboarding, that tells you something.

Culture

Ask to sit in on an office meeting. Watch whether people share what’s working or guard it. Talk to two agents who’ve been there more than five years, and one who joined in the last year.

How switching works at REMAX First

Most agents put off a move because they picture weeks of paperwork and a stalled business. In practice it’s one appointment and a few phone calls. Jackie Glavind runs onboarding at REMAX First, and her job is to make the transition smooth.

1. Book your onboarding appointment with Jackie at 403-278-2900.
2. Give your current broker notice in writing.
3. Call your clients. Let your active buyers and sellers know before you move. You’re their trusted advisor, and most likely all of them will want to keep working with you.
4. Meet with Jackie. At your onboarding appointment, your RECA licence and CREB® membership transfer to REMAX First, and Jackie walks you through our systems, tools and processes.
5. Bring your listings over. Your previous broker signs a termination notice on each active listing, and it’s re-listed with REMAX First. Buyer and seller contracts are rewritten with REMAX First as the brokerage.
6. Come to Monday’s meeting. It’s the fastest way to meet the office.

The licence transfer itself costs about $150 in RECA and CREB® fees. The rest is setup, and we do it with you.

Questions to ask any brokerage

• If I bring my book of business, what changes for my clients on day one?
• Who reviews my files, and how fast?
• What do your longest-serving agents say they’d change?
• Is legal advice available on a deal, and what does it cost me?
• What will you help me with in my first 30 days?

Where REMAX First fits

We’re Canada’s first REMAX franchise, in Calgary since 1977, with about 200 agents at every stage of their careers. Every Monday the office meets with Jeff Kahane of Kahane Law in the room. Our leadership team, including owners Rick Campos and Cliff Stevenson, takes calls on live deals. Our conveyancing team reviews every file. You’re welcome to sit in on our training before you decide. We’ll walk you through costs in a conversation, and if we’re not the right fit we’ll tell you.

Careers at REMAX First | New agent training

REMAX First | #115, 8820 Blackfoot Trail SE, Calgary, AB T2J 3J1 | 403-278-2900 | office@remax-first.ca