I was wondering if the more seasoned Toronto agents who are on this board could comment on the different realties that serve the N01-N11 areas (mostly N01-N05 & N08) or the C14.

I am going to start looking at realties in the near future, and though I've been able to find tons of questions to ask them, I wanted to get personal opinions of people who know something about them.

For example, as a customer I have the impression that realties such as Harvey Kalles, Keller Williams and Forest Hill work with higher end clients. Does that mean that they usually don't hire newbies?

What about realties such as Century 21 and Caldwell Banker, I know that they are big in US/internationally, but they don't seem as big in TO, so would it be detrimential to look at them as potential employers? At the same time realties such as Royal LePage are more local, but I don't think they are international (not sure?), does that make a difference?

Any information on specific independent realties within the areas mentioned would be greately appreciated.

Thanks.

Okay, couldn't find where to edit the above post, so just wanted to add, that the areas in North York are likely C6/C7, not C14 (the map I am looking at is too general to see the street names)...

bump

any thoughts, anyone?

Hey NJ, I might be able to help if you're interested. PM if you want to do a quick phone chat. I can help answer any questions about the Toronto area.

That being said. Here are the top 3 things you want to be thinking about as a New Agent.

Brand - Brand makes a huge difference to how you are perceived in the industry. Just as you mentioned above, you think that a few brokerages deal with higher price listings. That's brand power at work.

Training - Not much needs to be said here, if you aren't getting training then your learning curve will be way longer than someone who is getting training. If you are not selling right off the bat, this could be the make or break with your Career.

Support - If you don't have access to Managers, coaches, trainers that can answer your questions quickly then you are likely to be making big mistakes that will either lose you business or get you into Hot water.

There are a lot of great companies out there, the choice is yours. I'm here to help if you like.

Marty

Brand - I'm only aware of the brands from a customer point of view, and I don't know whether what I think of them is justified... since I don't have MLS access yet, it's hard for me to actually get market statistics (i.e. market share, etc.) esp. for the areas that I'm interested in

Training - pretty much doing all the theoretical training I can handle right now (both official from OREA, and unofficial from books, online resources, etc.), I'd have to actually start working to see how well something works for me, at this point...

Support - that's pretty much lacking right now (at least locally), hoping that I can pay a bit more attention to this once I'm at least somewhat done with my training, so I don't ask basic questions, and don't just waste people's time...