Canada's largest commission-free real estate network launched

Flat-fee alternative saves $1 billion in commissions

TORONTO, Sept. 28 /CNW Telbec/ - Today marks the launch of Canada's largest commission-free real estate network, listing more than 12,000 properties for sale in all regions of the country. The new network combines five commission-free Canadian real estate companies.

"We recently finished standardizing and optimizing the websites," says Martin Rygiel, General Manager of ByTheOwner.com in Ontario. "That was our first step in creating the network. The second step involves analyzing our ways of doing business, as we would like to implement the best practices in each of these companies."

Across Canada, the phenomenon of selling real estate without a realtor is growing more popular each year. "When we combine the transactions done through the five companies that now make up our network," Rygiel explains, "we've helped people sell more than 85,000 properties. For our customers, this means they've saved more than $1 billion in commissions."

"We intend to continue offering guidance and assistance to homeowners every step of the way, so they can sell their property successfully at a low cost," says Rygiel. "This is what we call assisted sale, where homeowners don't feel as though they're completely on their own. Our large network offers us the means to promote the unique positioning of our service across Canada".

The five companies now included in the network are ComFree in Alberta, Skhomes4sale.com in Saskatchewan, ComFree in Manitoba and PrivateRealEstate in Ontario, under the ownership of ByTheOwner.com/Duproprio.com in Quebec.

"We offer a genuine alternative to the services of real estate agents at a lower cost. This is a growing trend which we see as the wave of the future for real estate," Rygiel concluded.

About ByTheOwner.com
The mission of ByTheOwner.com and its dedicated team is to guide and assist homeowners at each step of the process, so they can sell their property without paying a commission. Since it began in 1997, more than 85,000 Canadians have sold a home through our network, which lists more than 12,000 properties for sale and receives 2.5 million visits monthly. The ByTheOwner.com network now employs 190 people across Canada.

To learn more, visit www.bytheowner.com

For further information:

or to arrange an interview, please contact:

For Ontario:
Matthew Mackenzie
Consultant - OEB enterprise
[phone]| [email protected]

For Québec:
Jean-Benoît HOUDE
Senior Consultant - CASACOM
[phone], ext. 224 | [email protected]

For Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta:
Beth Boyle
Principal - Spark Group
[phone]| [email protected]