PropertyGuys.com is expanding, and as North America’s largest private home sale network, the timing couldn’t be better.

The Moncton-based firm is eyeing the American east coast as well as Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to build upon its existing 83 offices. According to PropertyGuys.com founder and CEO Ken LeBlanc, the focus will be on leveraging local markets, which in a city like New York, just as in Toronto, will be about neighbourhood specialization.

“Real estate is local and in major cities like New York we’ll break it down into a neighbourhood approach,” LeBlanc told REP. “We won’t have one franchise owner for all of New York; we may have 15 or 20 based on those neighbourhoods. Our model is based on dwelling count and we’ll make sure our individual locations have that local flavour and are in tune with what’s going on in those neighbourhoods.”

The emphasis on neighbourhoods will help PropertyGuys.com’s network of private buyers and sellers navigate any bumps in the road. While LeBlanc says that technology cannot wholly stand in for the expertise an agent brings to each unique transaction, it will nevertheless leverage the latest tech offers.

“What makes our model so successful is we believe real estate is hyper local,” said LeBlanc. “I don’t think technology can come in and offer the level of complexity that someone on the ground can provide with all the ups and downs of a transaction.

“We’ll have the latest and greatest tech skills and tools available to both buyers and sellers but at the end of the day I believe this game is won and lost on the ground level of local markets, and our competitive advantage is on serving the customer. Today’s traditional market is focused on the dollar amounts instead of making it about the customer.”

The preponderant reason for the expansion is growing the private sale network. Presently, one in 10 real estate transactions are done privately, and PropertyGuys.com endeavours to drive that number skyward.

Given his belief that private sales are on the cusp of exploding, LeBlanc is confident about the PropertyGuys.com’s expansion.

“This is the perfect opportunity for aspiring, tech-savvy entrepreneurs who are passionate about real estate to join our team and disrupt the market with us. We’ve also launched home office support and training—PropertyGuys.com University—to encourage entrepreneurs with no real estate background to finally turn their passion for real estate into a reality.”