Fantasizing about living and working abroad is practically a national pastime here. Europe looms large in many people’s daydreams, with visions of closing down shop there in the afternoons, having a leisurely lunch then later enjoying an evening stroll around the piazza arm-in-arm with friends or family.

“It can be quite the idyllic lifestyle,” affirms realtor Valerie Dooley of Forest Hill Real Estate in Toronto. Dooley lived in Italy for years and still takes on the occasional European transaction. She describes the pace there as “more laid-back, like stepping back into another century.”  

‘A relaxed lifestyle, with multigenerational families often cohabiting’

European culture “embraces a relaxed lifestyle, with multigenerational families often cohabiting,” she continues. “You work less hours, with personal and leisure time put ahead of work schedules. Quality of life is paramount.”

As the maxim goes, Europeans work to live, not live to work. 

Of course, Europe is a vast area and every region is different. In North America, we tend to romanticize it somewhat. But the opposite is also common, at least when making comparisons between working here or there.

The experience can be viewed as heaven, hell or somewhere in between, depending on your perspective. Take for example the saying, “If you fear the world will end, come to Europe. Everything happens decades slower there.”

Is that a good thing, or not? 

Agents in Canada ‘have no idea how easy they have it’

Cultural bias is unavoidable and there’s no question that it warps our worldview. What one person finds charming, another may see as crazy-making.

Agents in Canada “have no idea how easy they have it,” asserts Ontario-based realtor Irene Kaushansky, who’s on Keller Williams’ global luxury task force. She’s of the widely-held opinion that the real estate business in Europe tends to be less organized and predictable than here, although she feels that’s started to change. 

“It’s very country-dependent,” she notes. 

Kaushansky tells the story of a realtor friend of hers in England who’s begun charging her buyer clients a retainer. “She doesn’t want to work for free (and) this weeds people out. There’s no buyer representation there, no contracts.”

A dynamic arena with enormous opportunities for the Canadian industry but buyer agency is complex

Michael Polzler, CEO of Re/Max Europe, lends weight to that anecdote when he describes the results of the feasibility studies done prior to Re/Max first launching on the continent 30 years ago. “They all came back resoundingly saying that it would never work,” he explains.

It turned out to be a dynamic arena with enormous opportunity.  

“There’s no question the European way of living and working has its own appeal,” Polzler observes. “But it’s still a marketplace where there’s essentially no formal set of rules, no MLS, no sharing of information or historical data and where the idea of cooperation between agents doesn’t formally exist.

To see 30 different homes, in most cases, you have to ask 30 different agents …The lack of buyer agency is really very complex.”

‘It’s double-ending paradise’: Key differences between North American and European industries

The industry in Europe is highly fragmented and deregulated, Polzler maintains, with different dialects, cultural norms, ownership rules and business practices everywhere. Many countries have no organized real estate whatsoever. Client and realtor protection may be minimal.

Small “mom and pop” offices have traditionally defined the industry there. Hugely productive superstar agents as we see in North America are thinner on the ground (leading to much tone-deaf and contentious speculation that European realtors are happier but have less entrepreneurial spirit than their counterparts in North America). 

Industry licensing is uncommon. As for payment, many realtors are salaried, but if on commission, “There’s generally no standard fee here in Europe,” notes Polzler. “It’s double-ending paradise.” 

Real estate offices, particularly in rural areas, may shut down for a couple of hours each afternoon and be closed on weekends. “You’ll see offices closed through the summer for weeks,” says Polzler. “And it’s hilarious how long it can take to get a call back.”

In his view, “If agents can learn to provide a better customer experience, that would change the industry here.” 

Professionalism and cooperation on the rise

Professionalism is on the rise though, including — very slowly — cooperation between agents, Polzler notes. (He attributes this to “trans-Atlantic education” from Re/Max and its competitors.) “I can get frustrated, but people here are listening and starting to understand and cooperate. There’s progress.”   

Dario Castiglia, president and CEO of Re/Max Italy and a managing director of Re/Max Germany, describes how North American practices have “enhanced the role of the realtor” in Europe via measures such as cooperation among offices and the introduction of favourable commission splits, along with “the open house concept, the large office concept, the agent-centric idea, the personal promotion of agents, the team concept,” and so on.

“But,” Castiglia adds, “We’re still a minority and our impact is limited.”

The next generation will tell the tale, he believes.