Saskatoon brothers open The Agency Saskatoon real estate boutique

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Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today the StarPhoenix talks to brothers Jonathan and Dimitri Katsiris, who together opened The Agency Saskatoon in Riversdale in October.

Jonathan has been a real estate agent in Saskatoon since 2006. His younger brother Dimitri followed him into the same field in Saskatoon in 2011, then gained four years of experience in North Vancouver before returning to Saskatoon in 2020.

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The brothers have been working closely together and offer a highly tailored experience for their clients. They have been on a long-term quest to bring a real estate brokerage to Saskatoon that has offices around the world and offers a high level of personal service to clients.

They were quite impressed with The Agency, which has offices across the U.S. and in 12 countries, including 24 branches in Canada. They bought The Agency franchise rights from Beverley Hills, California and call their firm The Agency Saskatoon. They are the first The Agency franchise in Saskatchewan.

Q: What is The Agency Saskatoon?

Jonathan: The Agency Saskatoon is a small boutique real estate brokerage with global reach. What that means for clients is they get service on a more one-on-one basis to build a relationship with their Realtor.

What it means for homeowners is we’re able to market their properties globally as opposed to staying within a local market where you’re limited in that capacity. Further to that, the agency is a luxury brand, so the marketing is like nothing else in the marketplace. The photographs are magazine quality. The virtual tours are second to none – proprietary technology that we have the licence for.

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All of those types of inherent benefits of the brand benefit each and every client that comes our way. Both the brick and mortar operation and the brand are conducive to a great experience.

Dimitri: I think what it also boils down to is it’s like the difference between Samsung and Apple. Apple is the experience provider and the experience leader when it comes to selling devices. We want to be the experience leaders in the marketplace for our clients.

We offer white glove service. We have a real estate lounge. We call it a lounge, not an office, because it’s a built-out, very comfortable space for our clients. And it’s a great place for the agent to come and work. We have a full suite of high-end marketing collateral, which has been proven to assist our clients in getting top dollar for their properties.

Q: Why did you open The Agency Saskatoon?

J: Dimitri and I both came from a family-based business. We both grew up in the restaurant industry, so we’re accustomed to being in a service industry. Real estate is no different. It’s a service-based industry just like the restaurant industry. When you serve people at a high level they come back to you time and time again when they feel like they’ve been looked after.

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Real estate was a natural progression for both of us. That’s why we opened up The Agency, because we wanted to put our name on something that we feel is ours, something that we take great pride in, building out an amazing boutique office that nobody else in our province has.

It’s something that’s unique, drawn from inspiration from Los Angeles and boutique offices in Malibu and some very high-end centres. The difference with us is that we’re treating luxury as an experience, not as a price point.

We don’t want people to think that because they don’t have a million-dollar home that they can’t come and see us. That’s not it at all. We’re servicing everybody, whether you own a first-time starter home or a three- or four-million-dollar house. We are equipped and adept in all segments of the market to service our clientele to the very highest standard.

Q: How does The Agency differ from other real estate brokerages?

D: The typical brokerage model is what you would find if you went to 99 per cent of the brokerages in the province. You would find, for example, if you go to Remax in Saskatoon, there are about 150 to 160 licensed Realtors there that operate under that umbrella. It’s a very competitive, cutthroat environment where everybody kind of keeps their information to themselves.

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It’s all mine, mine, mine, where we found a lot of the industry is migrating in larger centres, like Vancouver and Toronto, to the boutique agencies that offer something completely different. We have less Realtors that take a portion of the market share, so let’s say 15 to 20 licensed Realtors, instead of 150. And they’re all collaborating, meaning connecting dots and sharing opportunities with one another.

I think it would be better for the client to have a collaborative marketing effort. We have the opportunity to service our clients at a higher level because we’re actually working out of the same space with these other agents on a daily basis. We’re able to do that because we’re boutique and because we plan on remaining boutique in perpetuity. We never plan on growing larger than about 20 agents out of our boutique office. And that’s where the magic is.

J: With so much immigration happening into Saskatchewan specifically, we wanted to make sure that if we migrated from a brokerage, we wanted to be involved with a brokerage that had some reach.

I mean being boutique is all fine and dandy, but the key with The Agency is that it’s truly a global brand. They’ve got offices all over the globe and a very big presence in the United States. It was an organic decision that just kind of happened and it seems like the right fit. This city is ready for it.

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I think it’s time for Saskatoon to experience what a boutique brokerage can offer that a big firm can’t. And basically it boils down to personal service.

Q: Do you sign contracts with clients?

D: We have a bit of a process before we agree to sign a contract with anybody that wants to hire us for our services. Typically if somebody reaches out to us and says they have a house to sell, we’re going to schedule a time to meet with them in person, usually at our office. And we’re going to go over all the facts about what their goals are. Why are they selling their house? Are they downsizing? Are they having another baby? Are they relocating to Toronto?

We look at all of these things and we find out what their goals truly are. And then we deliberate about if we’re the best team to suit their needs based on a variety of criteria. And at the end of the meeting we usually decide if we’re going to work together or not. And then we execute the contract and that’s whether you’re deciding to buy a property or sell a property or sell an apartment building or whatever it is.

We always have the same process. We want to understand if our visions align, and if we truly believe that we’re the best people to help you.

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Q: How does your fee structure work?

D: The way we operate our fee structure we actually offer people three different options and that’s very dependent on their property and what it’s going to take to sell their property. Essentially the moral of the story is real estate isn’t a one size fits all business — at least we don’t believe so. We have a private conversation with every client and we determine which fee structure and options and marketing collateral is going to be best to get their home sold.

J: No two situations are the same. Not every client is the same. So instead of dictating to our clientele ‘this is what we charge,’ we provide options for them which are tiered so they can choose a structure that they feel is best for them. The clients never leave feeling like they were put in a position that they don’t want to be in. And that’s how we operate and that’s how we’ve been operating for the past many, many years before we ever opened The Agency.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The Agency Saskatoon

Managing Partners: Jonathan Katsiris and Dimitri Katsiris
Address: 209 – 19th Street West
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Phone: 639-295-4485
Website: www.theagencyre.com & www.katsirisrealestate.com
Check: Facebook, Instagram, X, Linked In, You Tube

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