Seeing, hearing Soper was super
By
Mark Schadenberg
LONDON
– Last week, the president gave me a certificate to recognize my
sales accomplishments of 2013.
The
president and CEO of Royal LePage is Phil Soper and his visit to
London to meet with about 150 Royal LePage Triland sales
representatives (London, Woodstock, St Thomas, Ingersoll and all
points in-between) encompassed checking out the amount of snow still
present in southern Ontario on March 28, to smile for pictures with
the sales force and their respective wall plaques, to enjoy a great
lunch with the best mushroom ravioli I have ever enjoyed - and not
necessarily in this order - deliver a state of the union address.
Sales
numbers were quite cold for the first two months of 2014 across the
country as buyers and sellers had buried themselves in snow.
Soper's
post-lunch podium predictions were both motivational and informative.
I
neglected to bring a scrap piece of paper for scribbling so I
resorted to pen-to-back-of-business-card dictation receiving.
“Canada
is well positioned on a go-forward basis,” said Soper as he
discussed the fact our economy is based on exporting raw materials
and therefore a Canuck loonie to be around 91 or 92 cents isn't a bad
idea, as he referred to several “positive aspects” of a lower
Canadian dollar.
Soper
commented on the news that one Canadian lending institution was
attempting to perk up real estate sales by lowering its 5-year fixed
rate to 2.99%. The president asked for a show of hands to see how
many remember the highest-ever Canada interest rates of 21.6% in
August of 1981. By the way, that month I turned 15.
More
good news?
“The
rate of Canadians taking on debt is now lower,” said Soper, as he
reflected back to the 2002-06 time period.
“Real
estate is good debt as it appreciates in value, while many other
debts depreciate,” he added.
I
have written here previously how the Woodstock – Ingersoll district
sales numbers for the first three months of 2014 lagged well behind
2013, by a 272-204 margin.
Soper
predicts 2004 to be a strong year and described the molasses start of
the current calendar this way: “Extreme weather delayed
transactions.” In other words, the flood gates will open when warm
temperatures arrive.
I'm
not a climatologist or meteorologist, and I didn't shove a ruler in
my lawn last Halloween eve, but I believe we received 60 cm of more
snow locally above the average of the past 30 years.
As
the orator proceeded, for a brief moment I thought Mr Soper was
waxing nostalgic by talking about Kensington economic principals. He
was not referring to Al Waxman and the King of Kensington, but rather
the thoughts of Keynesian
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics)
theories by John Maynard Kaynes, which basically state the best way
to recover from a recession (2008-09) is to spend spend spend. Kaynes
wrote his thesis during the Great Depression and was published in the
mid-1930's as The General Theory of Employment, Interest And Money.
As
for Royal LePage itself, my brand name is now No. 1 in market share
in Ontario and Manitoba.
I
believe Royal LePage and Re/Max continue to jostle for top spot in
total sales and total number of agents from coast-to-coast.
After
a short respite from real estate for an awards luncheon, now is the
time to again hit the streets running. When it's your time to buy or
sell, contact me. I have posted my game plan on these pages
previously, but I'll add one more: I can adjust, evolve quickly and
improvise as cloth napkins can not be note paper, but business cards
can be.
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
www.royallepage.ca
(519)
537-1553, cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Facebook:
Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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