Off-market pages have been on remax.ca for nearly 5 years with many competitors having similar pages on their sites as well. The information below will help breakdown what these off-market pages are, the purpose of them, future plans, and some tips on how to deal with any consumers who complain or demand that we hide their address.

What are “Off-Market” Pages?

  • These are individual addresses where the home is NOT for sale through a public MLS system.
  • Coverage is across Canada, excluding Quebec addresses.
  • We will NOT show these pages if the address is known to be for sale through an MLS. There are no “competing” pages in the site.
  • These pages contain very basic information about the address:
    • The publicly available Google “Street View” photograph of the property
    • The address, town, and province
    • A clear statement indicating that the address is “Not for Sale by RE/MAX”
      • Note: We cannot give a definitive “Not for sale” since there may be a private sale or FSBO situation.
  • The page also includes neighbourhood-level information, like nearby shopping, banks, restaurants, transit, and so on.
  • The page includes the opportunity to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter (and future communications in general).
  • Listings in the neighbourhood — useful for a consumer to see what the going price is and any potential “competition”.

What’s the Purpose of these Pages?

  • This page is the beginnings of an upcoming Seller’s Experience. We used to include the Home Valuations on this page and we hope to bring that back soon.  In the meantime, these pages are indexed by Google and bring in significant traffic, leads, and increased brand exposure to consumers.

What is NOT on an Off-Market Page:

  • Interior photos or private photos – only publicly available information.
  • The number of beds, baths, home-related amenities – only publicly available information.
  • The suggestion that the house is for sale – the call to action on the page as well as the copy clearly indicates it is not for sale. Even the SEO on the page speaks to it not being for sale.

Future Plans for Off-Market Pages on remax.ca:

  • Adding back some form of HVE experience (Home Valuation Estimate).
  • Allow consumers to ‘claim’ the address and use it as a starting point or homebase for a seller’s experience.
  • Add external (email) communications about the home and neighbourhood such as a weekly or monthly Neighbourhood Report about new listings, recently solds, etc.
  • Encourage and prompt the consumer to reach out to a RE/MAX agent to consult regarding a potential sale price, neighbourhood activity, and so on.

If Someone Complains:

  • First step is to reassure the person. Sometimes a person may assume their home is listed for sale because it’s on a real estate website and a second glance should calm them.
  • It’s also important to reassure the complainant that we only display already-public information. The photo of their home is readily found on Google Street View.  There’s no descriptions or photos of the internal aspects of the home.
  • While it may not be reassuring necessarily, pointing out that we’re not the only one may help to some degree — that we’re not doing something sneakily or covertly.

If Someone Still Demands That We Hide the Address:

  • The broker or agent should contact customer care (customersupport@remax.com) and include the full address, city, and province that should be removed. If possible, include the URL of the page.
  • It is important to tell a broker/agent/consumer making this complaint that we cannot hide:
    • Competitor pages
    • Google search results about their address in general (i.e. their address is showing up in a newspaper story)
    • Google Street View