RE/MAX Announces Plans For Expanded Agent Training To Deal With Rising Supply Of Distressed Properties

Illinois Real Estate Market Among Those Expected to Benefit

RE/MAX International has announced that it has reached an agreement with the Distressed Property Institute that will allow RE/MAX International to produce and distribute customized training courses that lead to the professional title of Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE). The agreement will help RE/MAX agents deal with the swelling supply of distressed properties for sale in many parts of the United States, including the Illinois real estate market.
The institute has licensed its two-day, 12 ½ -hour CDPE course for broadcast on the RE/MAX Satellite Network (RSN) and for DVD sales to RE/MAX sales associates.

According to Dave Liniger, chairman and co-founder of RE/MAX, distressed properties currently make up as much as 50 percent of the available properties in some real estate markets. Distressed properties include homes on which a foreclosure action has been completed, as well as homes in the foreclosure process or homes for which current market value is less than the principal balance on the existing mortgage loan or loans.

More RE/MAX agents already have taken the CDPE training than agents affiliated with any other brokerage organization. To date, RE/MAX agents represent approximately 25 percent of all those who have taken the CDPE course. The Distressed Property Institute, with locations in Boca Raton, Fla. and Austin, Texas, was founded by Alex and Cadey Charfen and began offering CDPE training in January 2008.

“We are looking forward to enhanced access to the CDPE training. RE/MAX Northern Illinois responded quickly to the growing inventory of distressed properties by creating a training program 2 ½ years ago, developed by Nancy Freeman, broker/owner of RE/MAX Realty of Joliet. It gave our associates the additional skills needed to work successfully with all categories of distressed properties, and we continue to offer that training on a regular basis,” said Jim Merrion, regional director of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network.

“Quite a few areas within the Illinois real estate market are confronting a sizable inventory of foreclosed homes or situations where homeowners are either facing foreclosure or owe more to their lender than the current market value of their home. Many of these homes will have to be sold, and the more we can do to assist in their disposition, the larger contribution we can make in stabilizing the Illinois housing market,” he said.