The next chapter for RE/Max Canada: Back to Fundamentals, ahead with AI

As a young man who grew up in Mississauga, Ont., Don Kottick was of little interest in business.

While his parents encouraged him to go to a conventional path, he threw studies in anthropology, psychology and geology – not the typical origin story of a manager.

But decades later, Kottick is at the helm of RE/Max Canada, who leads the most recognized real estate brand of the nation at a time on high efforts at which industry requires steadily leadership.

Kottick, born of parents in the academic world and engineering, graduated from the University of Toronto during a decline in the oil industry, which forced a change in direction. After working as a computer programmer and system analyst, he discovered his true calling in real estate while working as a business analyst, and laid the foundation for a career in the industry.

The professional path of Kottick includes various office periods at Royal Lepage. He also served as a VP of technology and business development at the Toronto Real Estate Board at the start of the Millennium. He worked with the real estate division of a company, Trader Classifieds, which was based in France, and later became a CEO of a company that specialized in virtual tours, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In 2014, his career evolved to the executive level of Peerage Realty Partners, where he spent five years, at a time when the company took over companies in North America. An important acquisition, Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, led to his appointment as president and CEO, a role that he fell for six years.

New start at RE/MAX

While at Sotheby’s, Kottick was approached by a headhunter with an unexpected opportunity: Le/Max Canada Leiden as President.

“At that time I was really not overly interested,” Kottick said in an interview with Real Estate Magazine.

What sold him of the occasion, he said, was hearing about the vision Erik Carlson, CEO of Re/Max Holdings, Inc., had for the company.

“They worked on building the real estate brokerage of the future,” said Kottick. “So suddenly I started to get very interested in it, and then I started saying:” Yes, this is the place where I want to be. “

Kottick was announced at the end of April as the new RE/Max President.

‘Brokerage of the Future’

For Kottick, RE/Max starts to acknowledge on the leading edge that the real estate sector is undergoing a profound change.

Traditional models will probably not survive much longer, so the company must reconsider its role and the value it delivers. This means that RE/Max offers products and services that not only strengthen his franchises, said Kottick, but also enable his agents to succeed in a competing, evolving market.

A central part of this transformation is technology. Kottick recognizes the disturbing influence of artificial intelligence, not only in society, but in real estate, specifically. To stay ahead, Re/Max must anticipate how AI will reform and embrace business practices.

Equally important for Kottick is the leadership team that controls this vision. He credit Carlson, who came to Re/Max two years earlier, with compiling a progressive group of business titans at the helm, including leaders such as Travis Saxton, who came to Re/Max Holdings in January as executive vice-president of Strategy, and Chris Lim, also new for the company in 20255.

Recking for the industry

For decades, the Real Estate Sector of Canada has sold itself to confidence, with agents who are cast as guides by some of the greatest financial decisions of life. But two serious events that came to light this year disturbed those carefully maintained reputation.

In Ontario, the Ipro Realty Ltd. scandal revealed a shortage of several millions of dollars in the broker’s trust account, which frozen the accounts in August by the Real Estate Council of Ontario, and its branches are completely closed, which were moved more than 2,400 agents in the province in August.

Earlier this year, Calgary’s Re/Max Central attracted the media attention with a controversy of Ponzi scheme, with his former agent Eric Drinkwater in the center of both criminal and civil court challenges. (Kottick, just a few months after the job, decided in May to break the tires with RE/Max Central).

Together these crises not only expose vulnerabilities in the way in which industry is regulated, according to critics, but also the vulnerability of the public belief in those who are responsible for protecting one of the most important markets of the country.

Negative headlines have strengthened concerns about professionalism and agent behavior, which puts pressure on agents to prove their credibility in an always skeptical market. Kottick recognizes the challenge and calls it a decisive moment for the industry.

Re/Max has a clear advantage in this climate, he says. As one of the most prominent real estate brands in Canada, it goes with credibility in the conversation. But only reputation, Kottick argues, is not enough. Agents need tools, resources and professional standards that actively strengthen that trust.

At the same time, the industry undergoes what Kottick describes as a ‘flight to quality’. According to him, the market between discount brokers and full-service companies, where top producers are attracted to environments where excellence is the norm. Re/Max thrives in this space, explains, and offers agents a supporting brand and innovative technology, with which they can elevate their companies.

He said that recent events have also shifted marketing tactics, who describe an emerging trend of agents who lean in the brokerage name for recognition, rather than build a brand based on their individuality.

“We went through this phase in which agents were always about their own personal brand,” said Kottick. “But because of all the media attention for the bad actors who are there, I think that consumers are again looking for a brand that they can trust. Brand has become important again.”

Restoring public trust

For Kottick, the rebuilding of public trust in real estate requires stronger cooperation between market leaders, associations and supervisors. He emphasizes that, although important, must be informed by those who actually understand the company.

Too often decisions are made without input from practitioners, resulting in rules that may not reflect the reality of the industry, he said. As he put it: “You would not build medical administration without doctors at the table,” and real estate should not be different. Ensuring that experienced professionals are part of the policy -making process is crucial for creating honest, effective supervision, he said.

At the same time, Kottick acknowledges that no system can eliminate any problem. “Things happen,” he said. “You will always have inevitable events that you cannot predict. You simply ensure that you have mechanisms so that they do not repeat themselves.”

Market forecasts

Kottick remains optimistic about the housing market in Canada, even in the midst of soothing circumstances in some of the largest cities in Canada, such as Toronto and Vancouver.

He emphasizes that the country has been struggling for a long time with a chronic housing shortage that is relative to population growth. In recent years, this imbalance has only been deepened with historical levels of immigration, creating sustainable pressure on both the ownership and the rental markets.

Loan conditions support the question further, he said. With interest rates at relatively low levels – and the possibility of further reductions ahead – capital remains accessible.

At the same time, Kottick said that a considerable pool of pent -up buyers is waiting to go back into the market.

Although the uncertainty surrounding rates in 2025 delayed the momentum, Kottick regards this as a temporary obstacle. He is of the opinion that the Handelsval Disada will be solved, so that the road is cleared for a rebound.

“Once this has been established, the locks will open,” he said.

Kottick also claims that the foreign buyer ban in Canada inadvertently worsened the limitations of delivery. He said that many people do not realize that new condominium projects require that 70 percent of the units must be declared before the construction can start, and foreign investors have provided historically essential financing. By cutting off that capital, the government has stuck the new housing stock.

He said that although the policy seems politically attractive: “Optical, people don’t understand that it actually has a negative effect.”

Advice to bloom in a challenging market

For Kottick, difficult markets separate the best agents from the rest. He said that when the circumstances get heavy, top performers do not slow down – they are rising.

Instead of withdrawing, they return to Fundamentals: make contact with their networks, consistently reach and remain visible.

“The best agents never get their foot off the gas,” he said.

He remembers the early days of the Pandemie as a good example. Many agents treated the disruption as a break, just to restart their companies later. In the meantime, those who kept active – calling customers, offering their markets and maintaining relationships – were ready when the demand increased.

Kottick advises agents to concentrate on “The Little Things”-Regulatory customer raccons, consistent follow-ups and cherishing relationships.

A modern brand

From a Mississauga child who is curious about people, to a C-suite director focused on norms and advanced tools, Kottick’s through Line is simple: credibility first. While the market finds its foot, he gambles the future of RE/Max on the quiet work of better advice, more stable leadership and results that you can measure.