Mark Kolke | Our Agents

Mark Kolke , REALTOR®

What is your home worth, and what are the odds it will sell?

I help clients figure that out.

Home ownership is, for most of us, our single largest investment. It is emotional, prideful and complex. Buying or selling a home - and often our clients are lining up to do both in the same time frame - is not something to do by accident or on a whim.

Helping clients 'know what their property is worth' and acquainting them with ‘my selling process’, and ‘my buying process’, is fundamental to my ability to help them execute a successful transaction.

Real estate work isn’t a job and our brokerage firm isn’t a business in the usual sense of that term. I operate a professional practice in real estate. My clients expect me to be as expert, as concerned about their best interests, as they of their doctor, lawyer, accountant or any other professional advisor. Sure, I consummate transactions for my clients – but I do it in the context of that professional relationship.

In Alberta, as with most jurisdictions, real estate practitioners (advisors, realtors, agents, brokers etc. must firstly be licensed by the province, we must have E&OE (professional errors and omissions insurance), liability insurance coverage – and, a brokerage firm to host our license. I have been licensed for thirty-two years. The last eleven with MaxWell, the previous eleven with Colliers International, a purely commercial real estate firm. Many people have asked me why I made the move. There were two reason: first, I was drawn to the character of Ron Stanners and Dick Oakes, founders of the MaxWell organization. I know them, like them and trust them without reservation. Secondly, though firms like Colliers have their reasons for ‘by product type’ specialization, I needed and wanted to work with my clients across property types. Initially that was helping landlord clients buy properties, helping leasing clients buy a house – that sort of thing. More recently, I’ve become even more focused on relationships I have established with clients who expect me to give them advice and service. Sometimes that measns helping their friends or business colleagues. Sometimes it is simply becoming more involved in our community. I like that a lot. I have the freedom and latitude to operate my own business practice, my ‘other activities’ in complete harmony with my role in the MaxWell organization.

When the time is right for action - everyone is on the same page, ready to approach that very important negotiation with calm assurance that we know what we are doing, and we know how to achieve our goal. I help clients set the goal, meet the goal and assess our performance afterwards. Like most people in this profession, it is more about the people than the deal, more about the relationship than the transaction and more about the future than the past.