Royal LePage

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Royal LePage is a Canadian real estate agency, that franchies through its member agencies around Canada. Today, Royal LePage has over 11,800 Realtors in more than 600 locations across Canada. Royal LePage is owned by the Royal LePage Franchise Services Fund. In the past ten years, Royal LePage has more than doubled in size and tripled its share of the Canadian residential resale market.

[edit] The early years

1913 – Albert LePage founds A.E. LePage, and is the first Realtor in Canada to make a full-time business of selling homes. His staunch belief in personal service and commitment to innovation will transform the way real estate is sold.

1920 – Albert LePage helps establish the Toronto Real Estate Board to set professional standards in the industry.

1922 – Albert LePage helps found the Ontario Real Estate Association to organize real estate activities across the province, promote higher industry standards, protect the public from unscrupulous salespeople, and preserve property rights.

1940 – Albert LePage creates one of Toronto's first subdivisions, dividing Lady Eaton's Ardwold Gate Estate (near Toronto's historic Casa Loma) into 30 lots.

1953 – Albert LePage retires, selling 80% of the company to his nephew, Jim Collett, and to his colleagues Brian McGee and Ron Sanderson.

[edit] Growth and expansion

1957 – President Gordon Gray orchestrates one of the most complex real estate deals to date, assembling land for the construction of the $125 million Toronto Dominion Centre. Buoyed by its success, A.E. LePage expands strongly into commercial real estate (operating today as Cushman & Wakefield LePage).

1964 – A.E. LePage offers a new service to help companies across Canada with employee relocations. (The service now operates under Royal LePage Relocation Services.)

The 1970s – A.E. LePage becomes a national real estate company, acquiring smaller companies across Canada and adding new services. It launches its first national advertising program, the Carriage Trade luxury properties program, the Town and Country Catalogue, and the quarterly Survey of Canadian House Prices. The company enters the United States marketplace with the acquisition of 20% of Coldwell Banker.

1984 – A.E. LePage merges with the real estate arm of Royal Trust to form Royal LePage, making it the largest real estate brokerage company in the country.

1987 – Royal LePage becomes a publicly traded company with the majority owner, Trilon Financial Corporation, holding 54% of the stock.

1994 – Under President Simon Dean, Royal LePage offers a franchise system, and rapidly grows its network by attracting leading independent brokerages and those from competing brands, including Johnston & Daniel [[1]].

1995 – Royal LePage launches www.royallepage.ca, "Canada's Real Estate Portal," which is one of the most popular real estate sites on the Internet.

1997 – Royal LePage further expands its network across Canada by acquiring Realty World Services, a national network of over 2,500 Realtors.

1998 – Royal LePage launches the Shelter Foundation, providing financial support to local shelters and offering education on violence prevention.

1999 – Royal LePage becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Brascan Corporation, now called Brookfield Asset Management [[2].

2003 – President Philip Soper restructures Royal LePage into a public company with the launch of The Royal LePage Franchise Services Fund, an income fund listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange [[3]] as RSF.un.

Royal LePage acquires Le Groupe Trans-Action, a Quebec realty firm with over 80 offices.

2004 - Royal LePage grows to 10,000 Realtors.

2006 – Network of Realtors climbs to over 12,000 as more and more franchisees and Realtors continue to join the network.