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Challenging market conditions in many areas mean that offices and agents are looking for as many competitive advantages in local markets as they can get, according to Century 21 owner and chairman Charles Tarbey.
Mr Tarbey said that the C21 network’s focus in 2019 will be keeping its brand front of mind for consumers.
He said that the network experienced near record levels of office renewals throughout 2018, especially in New South Wales, Queensland (including the Gold Coast) and South Australia.
“The interest comes on the back of the network’s award-winning global rebrand, and a domestic marketing campaign that was one of the largest in the company’s history,” Mr Tarbey said.
“We believe the new branding is ‘future-proofed’ and will continue to connect with consumers and the industry at large so long as we continually invest into it and detail what it, and we, stand for.
“The recently announced Seven West Partnership aims to achieve this, and we expect to reach millions of buyers and sellers through their far-reaching media assets including the popular House Rules television hit.”
Mr Tarbey said that amongst other notable office openings, 2018 saw the multi-award-winning Century 21 M1 team join from a rival network.
“The office represents an incredible flagship and showpiece for the new Century 21 branding, with the expansive and contemporary office fit-out spectacularly reflecting the modern vision of the company.”
Mr Tarbey was in the news recently when he took controversial rival network Purplebricks to task for being wrong about its “commission collecting” assertions.
On the back of Purplebricks’ recent Barry Du Bois-led ad campaign attacking the current commercial commission model (which it said has not changed for 30 years and is only in place to benefit agents), Mr Tarbey said it was “completely wrong” and that selling real estate is not about cheapness.
“What they fail to understand is that, in the past, it was a flat fee administered by institutes and governments, and we didn’t have a choice,” Mr Tarbey told REB at the time.
“And in many cases today, that fee would be higher than what the agents have been negotiating for themselves in the past few years.”
Mr Tarbey added that he believes firmly in a model that is reward for effort.
“I don’t believe in paying a low fee to get a service; I believe in paying the fee that is necessary to get the right job done,” the chairman said.
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