You may know me, you may not. My name is Andrew Fogliato and I’ve been in the real estate industry for more than 10 years. I’ve been an agent. I’ve conducted training sessions in brokerages and spoken on countless industry stages. Worked in the head office of a big brand. Consulted with proptech companies. I currently also own a real estate marketing agency named Just Sell Homes. My whole professional life revolves around real estate in one way or another.

I remember joining my first brokerage, Re/Max York Group, under Bill Jenkins. He told me that I couldn’t join his office if I was only going to do it part time.

I quit my job and jumped in with both feet.

I met a lot of great people in that office who pushed my career forward. People like Marcel Gery, Barb Blaser and Barb Brindle. I might not still be in the industry without their help and support early on. There are many more who made an impact. This industry is filled with a lot of great people.

When I launched Just Sell Homes, I got so much support from the real estate community. Way too many to name but there have been a lot who have helped over the years. Now I want to grow this community and make sure others can feel that sense of support, too.

Back when I was still licensed, I remember picking up a newspaper that was always sitting next to the front desk in my brokerage. I loved reading success stories and learning more about how the industry works. I learned a lot from that newspaper. As I’m sure you can guess, that newspaper was REM.

I never would have guessed that 10 years later, I’d be taking over as the new publisher after buying REM with my brother.

Almost everyone in the Canadian real estate industry, to one degree or another, knows REM. It’s always been a respected brand. When the news came out back in April that REM was looking for new owners, I had countless people reach out to say I should buy it.

Little did most of them know I had already tried a couple years ago. So again I reached out to William Molls to see if we could make a deal. After a little back and forth, and despite some competition, we came to terms.

Over the next couple weeks I made a lot of calls, trying to get everything sorted. One of them was with the long-term editor, Jim Adair. He said he felt like the father of the bride, asking, 

“What are your intentions with my baby?”

I bet a few of you are wondering the same thing.

Our initial re-launch of REM will be digital only. If there’s an appetite in the future when people are more consistently back in the office, we’ll bring print back, too.

We’re going to continue covering what’s going on in the industry. We’ll share the good and the bad. We’ll shine light where it needs to be shone and we’ll do it with honesty and integrity.

We have zero intentions to put the content behind a paywall. I believe the information should be out there for everyone to see, so you can better educate yourself about the industry, understand what’s going on and learn from people with a lot of experience.

That doesn’t mean there will never be premium content. In fact, at some point I can guarantee there will be premium content. But the main content will be free and available to everyone. 

You’ll understand why we are charging for premium content when you see it.

Our goal is simple: Provide as much value to you and the real estate industry as a whole as possible.

We want to continue the great legacy that REM has built since 1989. We’ll also always be looking for ways to build on that legacy and embrace more forms of media. The changes won’t happen overnight but you’ll be seeing more as we continue this re-launch of REM.

I’m looking forward to taking this next step. I know there’s a lot of work to do going forward but the team here at REM is up for it.

One thing you’ll start seeing soon are surveys and other things so we can get to know you. We want to learn more about who our readers are and what challenges you face day to day. That way we can better tailor the content you see.

I’d like to say a big thank you to Humber College, which has jumped in with both feet to be our premiere launch partner. They were one of the first to reach out and want to be involved. They saw the vision and we’re excited to work with them to help better the industry!

A  big thank you to Jim Adair, who has helped us co-ordinate the re-launch from his retirement and is supporting our search for a new editor to take the reins. He’s put a lot of work in to help get this back up and running and we’re incredibly appreciative of his help.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments. What have you loved about REM over the years and what would you like to see going forward?