<h1 data-start="113" data-end="173"><strong data-start="101" data-end="171">October 2025 Market Pulse: Staying Ahead Starts with the Right Insight📊🍂</strong></h1>
<h3 data-end="362" data-start="315">🔹 <strong>RE/MAX Escarpment &amp; Niagara Unit Sales:</strong></h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Hamilton:&nbsp;</strong>YoY -15.1% (421 Units Sold) | YTD -2.7% (4514 Units Sold)</li>
<li><strong>Halton:&nbsp;</strong>YoY -1.3% (706 Units Sold) | YTD -5.3% (6276 Units Sold)</li>
<li><strong>Niagara:&nbsp;</strong>YoY -11.5% (525 Units Sold) | YTD -7.2% (5414 Units Sold)</li>
<li><strong>Toronto:&nbsp;</strong>YoY -12.4% (2246 Units Sold) | YTD -7.4% (20,394 Units Sold)<br><br></li>
<li><strong>RE/MAX EN:&nbsp;</strong>YoY -9.08% (1312 Units Sold) | YTD +3.44% (13,592 Units Sold)</li>
</ul>
<h3 data-end="574" data-start="547">📍<strong>RE/MAX Escarpment &amp; Niagara New Listings</strong>:</h3>
<ul data-end="801" data-start="575">
<li data-end="632" data-start="575"><strong data-end="589" data-start="577">Hamilton</strong>: YoY +9.0% (1239) | YTD +16.1% (12,647)</li>
<li data-end="688" data-start="633"><strong data-end="645" data-start="635">Halton</strong>:&nbsp;YoY +6.6% (1699) | YTD +22.5% (18,926)</li>
<li data-end="744" data-start="689"><strong data-end="702" data-start="691">Niagara</strong>:&nbsp;YoY -2.8% (1483) | YTD +3.5% (16,359)</li>
<li data-end="801" data-start="745"><strong data-end="758" data-start="747">Toronto</strong>:&nbsp;YoY +0.8% (6222) | YTD +7.8% (64,313)<br><br></li>
<li><strong>RE/MAX EN:&nbsp;</strong>YoY -7.83% (1413) | YTD +1.59% (14,149)</li>
</ul>
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October 2025 Market Pulse: Staying Ahead Starts with the Right Insight📊🍂

October Market Pulse

October 2025 Market Pulse: Staying Ahead Starts with the Right Insight📊🍂
🔹 RE/MAX Escarpment & Niagara Unit Sales:

Hamilton: YoY -15.1% (421 Units Sold) | YTD -2.7% (4514 Units Sold)
Halton: YoY -1.3% (706 Units Sold) | YTD -5.3% (6276 Units Sold)
Niagara: YoY -11.5% (525 Units Sold) | YTD -7.2% (5414 Units Sold)
Toronto: YoY -12.4% (2246 Units Sold) | YTD -7.4% (20,394 Units Sold)

RE/MAX EN: YoY -9.08% (1312 Units Sold) | YTD +3.44% (13,592 Units Sold)
📍RE/MAX Escarpment & Niagara New Listings:

Hamilton: YoY +9.0% (1239) | YTD +16.1% (12,647)
Halton: YoY +6.6% (1699) | YTD +22.5% (18,926)
Niagara: YoY -2.8% (1483) | YTD +3.5% (16,359)
Toronto: YoY +0.8% (6222) | YTD +7.8% (64,313)

RE/MAX EN: YoY -7.83% (1413) | YTD +1.59% (14,149)

<p>2021 still holds the record with over 4,100 appointments, nearly 70% higher than 2025.</p>
<p>2025 marks one of the few years where sales at RE/MAX Escarpment &amp; Niagara nearly equal listings confirming high buyer follow-through despite fewer appointments overall.</p>
<p>The Appointment/Sold Index dropped to 9.1 in 2025, showing dramatically more efficient buyer engagement.</p>
<p>2025 shows listings (278) nearly equal to sales (264) our strongest absorption rate in 6 years.&nbsp; Contrast that with 2022&rsquo;s 239 listings vs 158 sales, which is roughly a 66% sell-through rate. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Each year around this week sees a decline in showings (4&ndash;14% range). 2025&rsquo;s -7.8% is right in the middle of that band.</p>
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2021 still holds the record with over 4,100 appointments, nearly 70% higher than 2025. 2025 marks one of the few years where sales at RE/MAX

What’s happening in the Appointment Centre? October 26 – November 1

2021 still holds the record with over 4,100 appointments, nearly 70% higher than 2025. 2025 marks one of the few years where sales at RE/MAX Escarpment & Niagara nearly equal listings confirming high buyer follow-through despite fewer appointments overall. The Appointment/Sold Index dropped to 9.1 in 2025, showing dramatically more ...

<p><strong>I have always been infatuated with &ldquo;frequency illusion&rdquo;</strong>, and believe it or not - it only received that moniker in 2005 by Arnold Zwicky a linguistics professor from Stanford. Frequency illusion is something which I believe plagues all humans on the planet. The technical definition, thanks to my friends at Wikipedia, that people may mistakenly believe that certain events or phenomena happen more often than they actually do because of inaccuracies or biases in how they process information. This can unfortunately lead to a regression effect in accuracy of frequency estimates. In other words, you buy a white Tesla Model 3 with pride and distinction, and once you drive it off the dealership lot &ndash; all you see is white Tesla Model 3&rsquo;s. You take an Uber and there it is again... a white model 3, you watch Fox News or CNN and see a photo of a white model 3, with a photo of Elon Musk beside it.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Believe it or not, before the term Frequency Illusion was coined, this phenomenon was referred to as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, which by your natural inclination is to assume that these two psychologists from the University of Oxford named Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof studied this when they were completing their PhD doctorate.&nbsp; Well, that&rsquo;s not true, believe it or not these two people were a part of a not so nice far left militant group seeking to overthrow the West German Government. For some of you too young to remember, Germany for approximately 41 years, was divided by a physical wall into two separate countries. &nbsp;</p>
<p></p>
<p>So along came Terry Mullen, an online message boarder in 1994, who wrote a letter to the <br>St. Paul Press, and in the letter he describes how after he mentioned the name of this radical militant group he kept noticing it come up again and again. I realize by now that you are very disjointed with this read, but you must admit the origin of this everyday life phenomenon, is rooted in this one guy. I wish he would have been posting about the Roman Empire, and it would be called the Maximus Decimus Meridius phenomenon, and would explain a lot of what&rsquo;s happening on Instagram and TikTok today.</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/jZCgoMYOTnO4BZcuCil4" alt="Zillow Darth Vader" width="318" height="583" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sorry It Took Three Paragraphs To Tell You My Frequency Illusion</strong></p>
<p>Being in the real estate industry, and attending conferences and masterminds, I find myself seeing Zillow over and over again.&nbsp; Zillow has not been able to create a stronghold in Canada or anywhere else globally for that matter, but it has been a dominant force in the US real estate landscape and has now become my Roman Empire. It has infiltrated my newsfeed, my reels, and my casual conversations. I have written about the evil empire in the past, and like Darth Vader faced his biggest challenge on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, Zillow may or may not be facing something similar.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>2025 The Year of Living Dangerously for Zillow</strong></p>
<p>Earlier this year there was a quote from Zillow&rsquo;s CEO Jeremy Wacksman in Geekwire, that set my frequency illusion in motion. He said, &ldquo;If we were starting in 2025, and we had this clairvoyance of how this had already been working, I feel like we would have [made some policies differently]&rdquo;. Well, that&rsquo;s all fine and good but to me this statement is akin to what we as kids referred to as a &lsquo;do-over&rsquo; or another way to look at it is as a back-handed apology.</p>
<p></p>
<p>2025 for Zillow has been a year of several (I stopped counting at 20) major lawsuits, federal investigations, and industry criticism focused on its business practices, antitrust conduct, referral transparency, listing restrictions, media copyright issues, and deceptive agent relationships to name a few. &nbsp;</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Compass vs Zillow</strong></p>
<p>Compass sued Zillow for banning exclusive listings, arguing this policy is anticompetitive and harms brokerages. Compass has been in an industry battle to preserve its ability to market exclusive listings which has gone against the National Association of Realtors Clear Cooperation initiative, which forces agents to put their listings on the Multiple Listing Service<sup>&reg;</sup> within 24-48 hours. Compass has been a vocal anti-clear cooperation proponent, and has been creatively and/or legitimately trying to continue to promote its so-called private exclusives amongst its own network.&nbsp; In true Death Star fashion, Zillow struck back by announcing that any property listed for sale, and not be made available on their site within 24 hours would be &lsquo;forever banned from Zillow&rsquo;. &nbsp;</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>The Portal Wars are Heating Up</strong></p>
<p>Commercial Real Estate portal CoStar, filed a copyright infringement suit against Zillow for illegally using over nearly 50,000 watermarked images owned by CoStar, claiming $1 Billion in damages. CoStar, who also owns Homes.com <br>(a head-to-head competitor of Zillow&rsquo;s) and Matterport (a virtual tour provider), decided not to renew their API (application programming interface) with Zillow, and as a result all Matterport&rsquo;s walk-through virtual tours were pulled from Zillow. &nbsp;</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>The Zillow Hits Just Keep On Coming</strong></p>
<p>No one can smell blood in the water better than class action suit lawyers who are coming at Zillow for misleading consumers by funneling them toward agents who pay hefty referral fees, not necessarily the best fit for buyers. One class action lawsuit alleges Zillow deceived homebuyers with hidden agent fees, steering them toward Zillow affiliated agents through its Flex referral program. Furthermore, if these so called Zillow certified agents do anything to steer Zillow referred buyers away from Zillow Home Loans, then those realtors will cease to receive any more referrals. Sounds anticompetitive to me!!!</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Whose Lead Is It Anyway?</strong></p>
<p>Back in December of 2023, Zillow closed on its acquisition of Follow Up Boss (FUB) for an estimated $500 million. It was touted as a way &lsquo;to simplify the business process for real estate agents, helping them increase productivity and grow their businesses.&rsquo; Two years later, Zillow has made FUB a required platform for its Premier Agent and Flex Partner Program.&nbsp; It does allow these realtor partners a window into the activity of the consumers on the Zillow platform, with access to AI insights on specific consumer behavior. It has been touted as a two-way integration, but what Zillow/FUB forget to tell their referral agents is that the two-way street runs to and from the agent&rsquo;s own database on FUB. &nbsp;</p>
<p></p>
<p>In other words if an agent or team receives a lead through Zillow, then Zillow reserves the right to reassign leads under specific circumstances, particularly if the REALTOR<sup>&reg;</sup>/team fails to meet certain performance requirements or communication standards.&nbsp; So of the approximately 227 million unique monthly visitors to Zillow, what are the chances that the 5 million buyers who buy and the 5 million sellers who sell in any given year in the US are not already in the Zillow database.&nbsp; Which according to Zillow&rsquo;s conflict-resolution policy, if a lead is assigned to another agent within FUB based on their hard work and follow-up strategies, and does not already exist on Zillow, then the lead will not be reassigned.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>If You Can&rsquo;t Beat Your Competition Pay Them Large to Get Out of the Way</strong></p>
<p>Enter the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), these are the people who just imposed (September 2025) the largest civil penalty in the agency&rsquo;s history of $1 Billion, along with $1.5 Billion in consumer compensation (40 million eligible consumers) at $35.50 each. So what did this company do? Amazon did not admit wrong-doing, but agreed to pay the total of $2.5 billion for &lsquo;allegedly&rsquo; tricking consumers into Prime subscriptions and making it difficult to cancel them.&nbsp; Sounds like every other streaming service. The FTC is accusing Zillow of paying the ailing Redfin (before Redfin&rsquo;s sale to Rocket Mortgage) to partner (or be paid to exit) with Zillow in multifamily rental listings to the tune of $100 million, and in return Redfin agreed to stop posting rental listings for the next 9 years, and as a result Redfin let go of several hundred employees in their multifamily division.&nbsp; It is the FTC&rsquo;s assertion that this action violated antitrust laws by suppressing consumer choice and innovation by the elimination of a Zillow competitor.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>What is Fueling The Beast&rsquo;s Thirst for More</strong></p>
<p>The sleeping giant that is Zillow has always been a sleeping giant, so what woke them up, and what should be a wake-up call to us all?&nbsp; January 2025 was the alarm clock for Zillow, housing appreciation in January in the US and Canada was pretty flat. In most areas was a fraction of 1%, and made consumers and Zillow&rsquo;s leadership rub their eyes in disbelief over their Zestimate numbers.&nbsp; At least a quarter of all listings recorded a price reduction, and YTD sales were off by 5%, when 2025 was touted as the price recovery year, it was not starting that way.</p>
<p></p>
<p>As this blogger has said on several occasions the watering hole is getting smaller, and it is beholden of us as real estate practitioners to get a greater share of the water or expand to another water source. Well, Zillow did just that and has been planning their strategy for many years, or was this their master plan all along?</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>Can the Real Estate Industry Strike Back or Will the Threads of Destiny Rule The Day.</strong></p>
<p>Before starting Zillow, the co-founders who previously co-founded Expedia (Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink) and Hotwire.com was Spencer Rascoff&rsquo;s. These earlier ventures were in the online travel industry, and without question these three tech gurus got together to not only disrupt real estate but to eliminate the people on the ground (agents and brokerages).&nbsp; Do you think for one minute these three musketeers didn&rsquo;t utter the words &ldquo;we are going to do to real estate what we did to travel&hellip;eliminate the travel agent.&rdquo; Come on, ask any start-up, they all have a craving for disruption and want to eliminate the service provider.</p>
<p></p>
<p>So they soon realized that travel was something that was done frequently and the lifecycle of the transaction was very short.&nbsp; Where the real estate journey is longer, done much more infrequently and has a ton of moving parts. Their goal has always been direct-to-consumer like they did with travel. But they soon realized that the industry was fragmented and the supplier of product came from over a million suppliers (listing agents) so eventually, they decided to partner with them/us.</p>
<p></p>
<p>But when inventories lingered and sales volumes shrunk significantly in the US market (sound familiar), they found their realtor partners weren&rsquo;t paying for positioning as they once did, and decide to go to a referral model which is like a hybrid direct to consumer model. Their direct connect model delivered consumers to high performing teams and individual agents.&nbsp; These referrals came with service delivery rules and punitive measures if their agent partners were found straying Zillow leads away from using Zillow&rsquo;s mortgage originator. The fact that they can go into your sacred CRM and pluck away and re-assign buyer/seller leads when the real estate agent fails to close them, or if the agent successfully completes the sale, they have the pleasure of paying 40% of the commission they earned to Zillow.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>It&rsquo;s Time We Take Our Industry Back From The Portals Like Zillow</strong></p>
<p>Having just come back from a real estate conference in Europe, it was clear by many of my conversations that the portals seem to have the power in many European markets driven by millions of consumers who are on them daily. A portal&rsquo;s true super power lies in the data they have been collecting on real estate consumer buying/search behavior. We as Canadians in the real estate industry have been sheltered from the portal wars, as we own our portal Realtor.ca.&nbsp; However, as consumers demand a better experience than this platform delivers (and it&rsquo;s going to happen) we could find ourselves in a similar situation. &nbsp;</p>
<p></p>
<p>It&rsquo;s time we start to embrace a true network which is consumer, agent and broker friendly (and its not an MLS), designed for the needs of all stakeholders, and also be responsive at the same time.&nbsp; A platform which does not look at consumers and their service providers as commodities to generate revenue, but to embrace technologies and information distribution to empower all.&nbsp; <br><strong>The dawn of this, I hope, is within our grasp. <br>Before it becomes too late.</strong></p>
<p></p>

The word ‘GREAT’ has been used throughout history to describe extraordinary events which not only had extreme consequences at the time but h

Who Is Baader-Meinhof and Why Have They Infiltrated My News Feed

The word ‘GREAT’ has been used throughout history to describe extraordinary events which not only had extreme consequences at the time but had tremendous physical and symbolic impact in their wake. What’s uncanny is the fact that most of these so called ‘GREAT’ events were not always born of greatness ...

<p>In August buyer confidence jumped immediately after The Bank of Canada held its target overnight rate steady at 2.75%.&nbsp; Where sales ran 20&ndash;30% above 2024, while the September cut gave only a short bump before the October pullback.</p>
<p>The fall market is driven by rate headlines, not fundamentals. Sellers still hold leverage under $900K, while buyers remain selective and rate-sensitive.</p>
<p>If tomorrow brings another overnight rate cut, expect a brief 10&ndash;15% rebound in sales into early winter.&nbsp; The real recovery, however, will depend on fixed mortgage rates moving lower giving late Q1 2026 the first real shot at sustained growth.</p>
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In August buyer confidence jumped immediately after The Bank of Canada held its target overnight rate steady at 2.75%. Where sales ran 20–30

What’s happening in the Appointment Centre? October 19 – 25

In August buyer confidence jumped immediately after The Bank of Canada held its target overnight rate steady at 2.75%. Where sales ran 20–30% above 2024, while the September cut gave only a short bump before the October pullback. The fall market is driven by rate headlines, not fundamentals. Sellers still ...

<p>Q1 and Q3 of 2025 are the clear market indicators for us at RE/MAX Escarpment and Niagara, where our early year momentum and late-summer absorption, both outperformed our competitors in our trading area.</p>
<p>2025 has already logged more high-ratio (+85%) weeks for us&nbsp; than all of 2023 combined, and Q4 hasn&rsquo;t even finished.&nbsp; Suggesting 2025 will set a new high-water mark for absorption pace at RE/MAX EN.</p>
<p>For our buyers and our sellers this year&rsquo;s Q1 momentum, and the Q3&rsquo;s late year push, has had a positive effect for our clients, by shortening their selling and buying cycles.</p>
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Q1 and Q3 of 2025 are the clear market indicators for us at RE/MAX Escarpment and Niagara, where our early year momentum and late-summer abs

What’s happening in the Appointment Centre? October 12 – 18

Q1 and Q3 of 2025 are the clear market indicators for us at RE/MAX Escarpment and Niagara, where our early year momentum and late-summer absorption, both outperformed our competitors in our trading area. 2025 has already logged more high-ratio (+85%) weeks for us than all of 2023 combined, and Q4 ...

<p>Sales have averaged a 9&ndash;10% dip mid-October (around Thanksgiving) over the last few years, with 2025 breaking that trend:</p>
<p>1. Sales are stabilizing in 2025 and are projected to see a +4% lift after years of mid-month weakness.</p>
<p>2. Listings typically dip 20&ndash;30% around mid-October, but in 2025 there are indications of improved listing activity where sellers are expected to stay more engaged than in prior years</p>
<p>3. Expect a smaller mid-October cooldown in 2025, not the deeper pullbacks seen in 2021&ndash;2022.</p>
<p>4. Momentum should carry into late Q4, particularly if rate trends stay steady and buyers anticipate a spring lift.</p>
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Sales have averaged a 9–10% dip mid-October (around Thanksgiving) over the last few years, with 2025 breaking that trend: 1. Sales are stabi

What’s happening in the Appointment Centre? October 5 - 11

Sales have averaged a 9–10% dip mid-October (around Thanksgiving) over the last few years, with 2025 breaking that trend: 1. Sales are stabilizing in 2025 and are projected to see a +4% lift after years of mid-month weakness. 2. Listings typically dip 20–30% around mid-October, but in 2025 there are ...

<p style="text-align: center;">The 8% Line = The Power Zone</p>
<p>The gray 8% line isn&rsquo;t just a benchmark, it&rsquo;s a market tension indicator. When both bars are above it, our sellers begin to gain leverage.</p>
<p>When the Appointment/Sold Index dips below but differential stays high, we have an efficient sales machine&hellip;market is well-balanced.</p>
<p>If both fall, there is a strong indication of slowing absorption ahead.</p>
<p>From this data, it looks like the 2025 spring to summer transition (especially March and July) carried the most sustainable balance, where demand strength coupled with conversion efficiency lead to a steady market without overheating.</p>
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The 8% Line = The Power Zone The gray 8% line isn’t just a benchmark, it’s a market tension indicator. When both bars are above it, our sell

What’s happening in the Appointment Centre? Sept 28 - Oct 4

The 8% Line = The Power Zone The gray 8% line isn’t just a benchmark, it’s a market tension indicator. When both bars are above it, our sellers begin to gain leverage. When the Appointment/Sold Index dips below but differential stays high, we have an efficient sales machine…market is well-balanced. ...

<h1 data-start="113" data-end="173"><strong data-start="101" data-end="171">September 2025 Market Pulse: Staying Ahead Starts with the Right Insight📊☀️</strong></h1>
<h3 data-start="315" data-end="362">🔹 <strong>RE/MAX Escarpment &amp; Niagara Unit Sales:</strong></h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Hamilton:&nbsp;</strong>YoY +12.3% (458 Units Sold) | YTD -1.4% (4084 Units Sold)</li>
<li><strong>Halton:&nbsp;</strong>YoY +1.1% (574 Units Sold) | YTD -6.0% (5556 Units Sold)</li>
<li><strong>Niagara:&nbsp;</strong>YoY -2.8% (523 Units Sold) | YTD -7.0% (4877 Units Sold)</li>
<li><strong>Toronto:&nbsp;</strong>YoY +2.0% (1995 Units Sold) | YTD -7.6% (17,988 Units Sold)<br><br></li>
<li><strong>RE/MAX EN:&nbsp;</strong>YoY +9.00% (1356 Units Sold) | YTD +4.98% (12,280 Units Sold)</li>
</ul>
<h3 data-start="547" data-end="574">📍<strong>RE/MAX Escarpment &amp; Niagara New Listings</strong>:</h3>
<ul data-start="575" data-end="801">
<li data-start="575" data-end="632"><strong data-start="577" data-end="589">Hamilton</strong>: YoY +11.2% (1455) | YTD +16.8% (11,397)</li>
<li data-start="633" data-end="688"><strong data-start="635" data-end="645">Halton</strong>:&nbsp;YoY +16.0% (2142) | YTD +24.3% (17,226)</li>
<li data-start="689" data-end="744"><strong data-start="691" data-end="702">Niagara</strong>:&nbsp;YoY +7.0% (1863) | YTD -4.1% (14,873)</li>
<li data-start="745" data-end="801"><strong data-start="747" data-end="758">Toronto</strong>:&nbsp;YoY +0.4% (7473) | YTD +8.6% (58,089)<br><br></li>
<li><strong>RE/MAX EN:&nbsp;</strong>YoY +27.75% (1745) | YTD +2.75% (12,736)</li>
</ul>
<p data-start="487" data-end="723"></p>
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September 2025 Market Pulse: Staying Ahead Starts with the Right Insight📊☀️

September Market Pulse

September 2025 Market Pulse: Staying Ahead Starts with the Right Insight📊☀️

🔹 RE/MAX Escarpment & Niagara Unit Sales:
Hamilton: YoY +12.3% (458 Units Sold) | YTD -1.4% (4084 Units Sold)
Halton: YoY +1.1% (574 Units Sold) | YTD -6.0% (5556 Units Sold)
Niagara: YoY -2.8% (523 Units Sold) | YTD -7.0% (4877 Units Sold)
Toronto: YoY +2.0% (1995 Units Sold) | YTD -7.6% (17,988 Units Sold)

RE/MAX EN: YoY +9.00% (1356 Units Sold) | YTD +4.98% (12,280 Units Sold)
📍RE/MAX Escarpment & Niagara New Listings:
Hamilton: YoY +11.2% (1455) | YTD +16.8% (11,397)
Halton: YoY +16.0% (2142) | YTD +24.3% (17,226)
Niagara: YoY +7.0% (1863) | YTD -4.1% (14,873)
Toronto: YoY +0.4% (7473) | YTD +8.6% (58,089)

RE/MAX EN: YoY +27.75% (1745) | YTD +2.75% (12,736)

<p><strong>The word &lsquo;GREAT&rsquo; has been used throughout history to describe extraordinary events</strong> which not only had extreme consequences at the time but had tremendous physical and symbolic impact in their wake. What&rsquo;s uncanny is the fact that most of these so called &lsquo;GREAT&rsquo; events were not always born of greatness the way we know it. When we think great, the &lsquo;GOAT&rsquo; comes to mind (greatest of all time), or &lsquo;Great minds think alike&rsquo;, or &lsquo;Great job&rsquo;, or the &lsquo;Great White North&rsquo;. All things rich with enthusiasm, except if you are a sitting Republican president, the last one may not count. &nbsp;</p>
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<p>Events of the past which were associated with this adjective were usually associated with large scale human hardship, like; The Great Fire of Chicago (1871), The Great Famine (1845), The Great Plague (1665), The Great Depression (1929), and The Great Recession (2008). &nbsp;</p>
<p>The Great Reset is something which has been referred to by conspiracy theorists post pandemic, it is not an actual historical event, but it comes at a time when I believe we are being faced with the most incredible technological advancement in the last 500 years&hellip;.Artificial Intelligence. &nbsp;</p>
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<p>Okay, five hundred years sounds a tad bombastic, but for sure this technology will definitely shape the 21st century. If we examine what has been spent in Q2 of 2025 on all things AI ($400 Billion), it overshadowed consumer consumption in the US, (consumer spending makes up over 60% of US GDP). Not to mention that growth in AI stocks in Canada and the US make up an oversized proportion of stock market activity.</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/mHyluaoS97St4SB3H0gC" alt="envato-labs-ai-6986d9cd-e226-45ee-beed-483ad0a5f18b.webp" width="318" height="583" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></p>
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<p><strong>If It Looks Like a Bubble It Must Be a Life Changing Technology</strong></p>
<p>Throughout economic history we have experienced these technologies which without question changed the world, but also burst like a bubble. Remember the dot-com bubble as the internet became the dominant technology of the day. Not only did direct to consumer companies like Pets.com ($11 IPO to $0.22 two years later) collapse in the bubble, but so did internet infrastructure companies like Nortel, at one point it was Canada&rsquo;s largest company, and well positioned to supply the world with telecommunications equipment. Then the bubble began to expand with an oversupply of broadband infrastructure throughout North America and Nortel&rsquo;s stock peaked at C$124.00 after a massive stock split in-between, and later plummeted to 47 cents. &nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Is AI All That And A Bag of Chips</strong></p>
<p>There are a few theories to the origin of the expression &lsquo;All that and a bag of chips&rsquo;, for this article I&rsquo;m going with a food vendor who exclaimed &ldquo;all that&rdquo; was a basic meal and the addition of a bag of chips brought the meal to a new level of value. Like the icing on the cake, it is an intensifier. AI to this humble blogger&rsquo;s opinion is like the bag of chips for everything we do. It is next and a differentiator when we add it to what we are already doing. It is something that should &lsquo;UP&rsquo; our businesses, it will help with developing and refining a piece of content, it will help us streamline our operations model, it will help identify gaps in our service model and give us ideas to improve it. It can identify bottlenecks and friction points in or general operations and help design a new model, and create resources to smooth the edges. AI represents your &lsquo;power partner&rsquo; to power our businesses through this new reset era.</p>
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<p><strong>2025 The Year That Was Supposed To Be</strong></p>
<p>This was supposed to be that golden year (even though 25 is the silver anniversary year) for so many industries, real estate included. Two things lined up, it has been 5 years since the pandemic, and the fact that the century has come of age. The movie theatre business is the poster child for 2025 being the turn around year. Summer to the movie business is like Christmas is to the retail business and Halloween is to the candy business. The summer block buster was the one to heal all woes of a lack luster year. It&rsquo;s like their Black Friday. Aside from pandemic years July and August represent $2 billion plus in sales, which have been that way since 2015.&nbsp; It has been reported that the cinema business is off by 20 to 25% pre-pandemic, sound familiar?</p>
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<p><strong>Content Is No Longer King</strong></p>
<p>The traditional movie business has proven you can&rsquo;t win with content alone. Let&rsquo;s face it theaters are fundamentally the same as they have been since as long as I can remember. Decades old facilities, sticky floors, unoriginal concessions and ridiculously high prices for a bottle of water. In 2025 the thought-to-be blockbusters like&nbsp;</p>
<p>Snow White, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (let&rsquo;s hope its the final sequel), Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth turned out to be busts. Tried and true franchises like the Fantastic Four and Ballerina the John Wick spin-off, reek of unoriginality and failed to re-attract their core audience. &nbsp;</p>
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<p>It&rsquo;s time this business redefines the movie-goer experience, not only should they re-design the theaters with 4D motion seats, pod seating, couches, blankets etc. Provide virtual or augmented reality previews tied to upcoming films, insert Easter eggs in the cinema experience films only, gamify the theatre experience to encourage people to go multiple times and to multiple movies, with surprise gifts for those loyal viewers. Full digital experience with interactive apps where you choose your seat, and you have a food locker with your snack order in it for the minute you arrive. More gourmet and healthy options for food and beverage. The decor should be themed toward the movie, with instagrammable back drops. Encourage movie-goers to share their ideas for future sequels and pay royalties to those who provided the best ideas.</p>
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<p><strong>The Emergence Of The Hybrid Business Model</strong></p>
<p>The quarter-century milestone brings about sober reflection as the century moves from young adult to full fledged responsible adult. As we now enter the &ldquo;coming of age&rdquo; era of this century it brings about feelings of nostalgia and reflection of trends and events of the past, but in order to move forward we must all possess a clear unencumbered vision of the future. In other words, many industries basked in the euphoria of the pre/during pandemic lift, which was artificial non-the-less, but left collateral damage in its wake. As businesses owners and home buyers/sellers mourn the lower costs and benefits of doing business in 2019, and the exponential growth which quickly followed, now must put forth a different strategy for the future. &nbsp;</p>
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<p>First-time buyers must make a more defined plan to build a down payment, buy amalgamating accelerated savings through well invested TFSA&rsquo;s, using RRSP&rsquo;s which are funded by parents or grandparents, and good old fashioned discipline. Move-up buyers may also have to take a hybrid approach to moving up as equity in some housing categories may not be as accelerated as others.</p>
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<p>All industries including real estate practitioners must be thinking in a hybrid fashion going forward. We can learn a lot from Toyota&rsquo;s hybrid, multi-pathway approach to building cars. They have decided to put their efforts in various fuel cell technologies not just one. We in the real estate industry should adopt a multi-channel approach to our real estate business along with a new and improved customer experience. We should be producing quality general and segmented content (as one size does not fit all), and expand within the real estate vertical to areas like multi-generational housing options to co-purchasing with non-family etc.</p>
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<p><strong>What Happens When The Watering Hole Gets Smaller&hellip;.Consolidation</strong></p>
<p>Companies like Porsche, are realizing a future with less sales, the management at Porsche is imagining a world where selling 20% less vehicles could be the norm. There is no more evidence of this than in the Canadian and US real estate markets. Sales in the last few years have been declining and remain much lower than the 10 year average. Real estate companies have been wrestling with this &lsquo;new normal&rsquo; post pandemic and post cheap money. In the past when this occurred consolidation/acquisition was the key to moving on. Increase your top line and all your financial woes would disappear. But when you add AI to the mix it creates a goal within a goal.&nbsp; What I mean by that is as you expand your reach to create an invaluable data lake to draw more water/data. &nbsp;</p>
<p>It has been reported that Compass&rsquo; purchase of the franchisor Anywhere (Better Homes and Gardens, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, ERA, and Sotheby&rsquo;s International) was an all-stock transaction valued at $1.6 billion dollars, with Compass assuming Anywhere&rsquo;s estimated debt of between $2.6 billion to $3.16 billion. At the lower debt level that&rsquo;s a monthly payment of interest only (5%) of over $10 million dollars to service the debt alone without accounting for operations. This may seem an illogical acquisition on the surface, but is there a deeper strategy at play. The messaging around this acquisition has been touted as a way to strengthen Compass&rsquo; balance sheet, increase their footprint and bring about greater revenue diversity. &nbsp;</p>
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<p><strong>The Final Word About The Great Reset Goes To The Master Plan of One CEO.</strong></p>
<p>But is there something else at play? There was no question that Compass was ready to acquire something off the heals of their failed purchase of Berkshire Hathaway&rsquo;s real estate business HomeServices of America back in March of 2025. Not only does this fill some gaps for Robert Reffkin the CEO of Compass but also allows him to put a nail in the proverbial clear cooperation coffin. Clear cooperation is a real estate policy from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the United States that limits exclusive listings to 24-72 hours, and then must be listed on the Multiple Listing Service. Reffkin&rsquo;s public feud with NAR and local boards was not a quiet one, also his strategy to hold back listings from the MLS was a direct hit to real estate portals like Zillow and Realtor.com. With the new company now having 340,000 agents, their ability to bypass Real Estate Boards and show case exclusive listings may become a reality, but flies in the face of greater exposure to the approximately 1,113,690 other realtors in the US and in turn &lsquo;RESET&rsquo; the way real estate consumers in the US shop for properties.</p>
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<p><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/SspPOvCwTXS6IBUt0ZQd" alt="undefined" width="688" height="492" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></p>

Are We At The Dawn of "The Great Reset"

<p>Appointments have stayed fairly stable throughout the summer. They have hovered right around the average with only mild week-to-week shifts.</p>
<p>Sales tracked appointments closely, with no big divergence, which tells us the market is converting showings into sales at a healthy pace.</p>
<p>Summer seasonality did not really show up in 2025, which should spillover into the fall possibly pushing weekly appointments up from summer averages.</p>
<p>Activity should taper off late November, but the data so far suggests the year ends higher than 2024&rsquo;s winter baseline because demand hasn&rsquo;t cooled dramatically.</p>
<p>Q4 should be steady, not spiky&hellip;..looking forward there will be more of a &ldquo;slow and steady&rdquo; pace.</p>
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Appointments have stayed fairly stable throughout the summer. They have hovered right around the average with only mild week-to-week shifts.

What's happening in the Appointment Centre? September 21-27

Appointments have stayed fairly stable throughout the summer. They have hovered right around the average with only mild week-to-week shifts. Sales tracked appointments closely, with no big divergence, which tells us the market is converting showings into sales at a healthy pace. Summer seasonality did not really show up in ...

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