Read the Department of Justice’s opinion of the Buyer Cash At Closing program and how it effects buyers:

http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/real_estate/rebates.htm

Two agents from Sothebys have joined Duffy Realty to offer our clients a higher level of service.  They have a very specific game plan and offer coaching and strategy sessions by phone after the initial visit every 2 weeks until your property is sold.  We are using technology that is efficient to provide constant communication between you and them.  There is more marketing involved, follow-up with showings and more attention is placed on your individual specifics. You should not use this program if you are unsure about selling your property.

The fee is 5.25% at closing with 3% of that going towards a buyer’s agent.  At closing we will also return the money that you have spent upfront.

If you have a need and desire to have more specific attention to be put on your property, please call Customer Support at 678-366-3791 to get your property transferred to Duffy Realty’s Premier Marketing Strategy.

Congratulations to the Duffy Realty team for 8 great years of real estate! We signed on and helped our 15,000th client this week and tomorrow we are celebrating our 8th Anniversary of being in business here in Atlanta. We certainly could not have done it without the hard work and dedication of many, many truly gifted people. Job well done team! And thank you to all our clients for your business, we wouldn’t be here without you!

If you would like to become our client please give us a call:

Sellers call 678-366-7846

Buyers call 678-892-1186

Out of the blue, I was contacted by the Canadian Bureau de la concurrence which is the The Canadian Competition Bureau. The Canadian Competition Bureau is the equivalent of the Federal Trade Commission or the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division in the United States. I was asked to be interviewed about minimum services in real estate just as I had been involved with the Georgia Real Estate Commissioner’s Task force with the USDOJ. They wanted to know how my real estate business model works for both me and for the client. They were very thorough and showed up with at least 4 pages of questions. The questions ranged from how I do things to how the customer responds in each instance. They came to my office for the interview and toured every department. Think of that, wow, they flew to Georgia to meet me – I really didn’t think too much about this until afterwards. They said that they researched me on the Internet – amazing the resources out in the public today.

Apparently, the Canadian MLS boards have very strict rules about what you can and can not do as agent members regarding listings. The MLS boards there are owned by the Realtor Associations just like they are in the U.S. This was odd to me as we as agents and brokers should be regulated by the U.S. and state laws, not the MLS boards who simply supply the tools. I don’t know how this has gotten so backwards. Well at least the DOJ is doing something about it now.

Anyway, all went well. They said that the Duffy real estate model would conform to the current rules of the Canadian MLS boards because we handle every aspect of the contract and we coach our clients on the selling side and that we appear to be as much of full service as any other full service company that they have in Canada or that they have researched in the U.S., although all of their interviews are confidential. We talked mainly about the selling side and briefly touched on the buying side and the buyer cash bonus that we give to our clients.

Thank you Canada for thinking of your consumers too! I personally appreciate all the work that the DOJ has done to protect consumers in the U.S. And I know that my clients appreciate it too. Saving over one billion dollars in listing commissions while getting a successful transaction done at the same time has really helped a lot of my clients with their personal transaction and help them eliminate their own personal recession.

We had our 2nd annual conference in New Orleans this last weekend and everything went well. Rainmaker is my licensee company that we have now populated in 54 cities around the U.S. We had a great time, learned about all the different markets across the U.S. and what is going on with them. Here are some comments from the group.

All,
It was wonderful seeing you all and I appreciate you all for your fair and honest interchange of ideas. It feels great to be part of a professional and ambitious group as this one. I look forward to seeing you all next year.
Regards,
Michael Poncher

Frank @ Rhonda,

I wanted to let you guys know how much I enjoyed the conference. I learned a tremendous amount. I learned more in those two days then I did my first year in college! I appreciate the knowledge you have passed on to me. Rhonda-you are an amazing woman! Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a thing on you. My vote is Rhonda Duffy for President! (Repub nominee of course). And I’m serious about that.You inspire me and I want you to know that. I enjoyed bonding with the other licensees as well. It is a great group of high quality individuals. Again, thank you for your wonderful hospitality. Talk to you soon.

Tiffany Hager
Hager Realty
“A Better Way”

Frank and Rhonda,

Thanks so much for hosting another successful Rainmaker conference. This year was much different for me as it seems I’ve moved from “Newbie” to “Veteran” in just 1 quick year, but I benefited from the conference nonetheless. As Mike Poncher said… just the energy of being around other like-minded and motivated licensees is reason enough to come. As always, Rhonda you gave some valuable tips, insights, and coaching as I look to move my business to the next level before the next conference. I truly appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge and experience, especially given the circumstances with all the things you have going on with Duffy Realty and your other ventures. For me, year 1 was the “How to be a good Realtor” year, while year 2 will be the “How to be a good real estate brokerage business owner” year. I look forward to taking the learnings from the conference and applying them to a great 2008.
Thanks again,
- Don

You can view all of the cities that we cover in the U.S. at

Here is an interesting article from Money magazine.

Atlanta is the #3 Fastest Growing Area in the U.S.

This is an email exchange between me and a potential client’s sister.

Her email to me.

I have referred my sister to your site as an option to consider for relisting her home (the agent contract is expiring on Feb 10th). She and I have both read the information on your site and are impressed by the way that the process has been streamlined and “formula-ized” to save money for the seller, especially in today’s market.

I have heard only one person express concern over using Duffy Realty as the listing agent. The concern was that a friend had listed a home with Duffy and the perception was that other agents black-balled the house, deliberately avoiding showing it because of the “discount” listing. When he ultimately changed to a full-service agency, his traffic seemed to increase noticeably.

Of course, there could be other variables at play, but it’s not difficult to imagine that full-service agents might band together and boycott a listing to “protect their turf,” forcing sellers back to the full-price brokers.

How do you handle this type of objection?

Thanks
Laura

My response to her email./strong>