ALEX PILARSKI

Alex Pilarski of RE/MAX Realtron Realty is part of this year's Real Estate Professional's Hot List.

ALEX PILARSKI
http://www.realtronhomes.com/
RE/MAX Realtron Realty
Toronto, ON

Co-owner of RE/MAX Realtron Realty since 1985, when he purchased the company with his brother Richard, Alex Pilarski has introduced a number of innovative strategies to help his agents create a better service environment.

One of their most successful moves was to open an appointment centre, where, rather than use the services an external answering service, Realtron staff man the phones from 8am until 10pm, resulting in approximately 200 calls a day being answered. Pilarski has also instituted a central lockbox system for his agents, which he feels has significant advantages for consumers.

“What has happened in the past with the lockboxes everybody else uses, there is no security for the sellers,” Pilarski says.

“An agent can come in and decide to come in again a few days or a few hours later. We’ve had instances where agents have given the lockbox code to clients and the clients have gone in by themselves. There was no real control.”

Pilarski says the system, which he has lobbied TREB for years to adopt, is more labour intensive than what agents have become accustomed to, but the benefits for clients and agents are worth the extra effort.

“Those agents who have embraced it are having great success,” he says.