Audree Mevellec (CIPS, CLHMS), who in April left Keller Williams to join RE/MAX Premier Group in Plano, Texas, very definitely thinks globally. And she invites her RE/MAX colleagues to join her as she goes about improving the way international real estate business is conducted.

Building relationships
Through her training program, leading to the International Real Estate Specialist (I.R.E.S.) certification, she has built relationships with nearly 800 agents in six countries and 11 U.S. states. I.R.E.S.-trained members are allowed to place listings of all other members on their Web sites. Thus, an agent in Michigan can help market a home in Rome or an agent in England can market a waterfront condo in Miami - opening up the listings to a vast audience of potential buyers.

"I really enjoy teaching and creating new agents," says Mevellec, who grew up on the French Riviera and earned her real estate spurs by selling Riviera properties to English-speaking buyers. "With our system, we teach agents how to work with international agents and clients - and see the possibilities if they expand their horizons."

After years of traveling with her husband, Philippe - who managed upscale properties around the world - they settled in the Dallas area. Mevellec decided to go back into real estate.

"Selling just in my neighborhood didn't satisfy me," she says. "I wanted to do something on a larger scale."

She began pursuing international business, and struck gold two years ago when she sold the most expensive castle in the history of Scotland in concert with a Scottish estate agent.

"That gave me the wings I needed to continue," she says. "After that, as I was speaking at international real estate conferences, everybody came up to me and asked how I did it. It gave me the idea to create my training program."

No fear
Mevellec's training program is based on complete cooperation among agents from different nations.

"There's a need for Americans and international agents to understand each others' ways of doing real estate and working with them without fear," she says. "If agents don't understand the differences, it's hard for them to work with another agent without thinking of them as a competitor or an enemy. They're missing an important point, which is communication with the other agent and the value of the networking they can get from the transaction."

In pursuing international listings, Mevellec begins by seeking partnerships with agents from the specific nation.

"I explain that I can put a property in front of 300 million people and that we need to search for a listing together," she says. "When we talk to the seller, he'll like the idea of marketing the property in the U.S."

Mevellec publishes a quarterly glossy magazine - Castles & Estates - that features advertising and international real estate information.

Opportunity knocks
Mevellec recently signed an agreement for a home in Provence, France, and negotiated a 10 percent commission. The local listing agent gets 2.5 percent, Mevellec gets 2.5 and she'll divide the other 5 percent among the buyer's agent and any other agent who helps bring a buyer to the table - perhaps an Associate in Chicago who has a buyer wishing to purchase a second home in France.

"In our training program, we show how to put the fees together so that there's something for every agent involved in the transaction," she says.

Mevellec used the power of her system to gain the marketing rights to two huge new developments: The Atlantic Beach Club development in St. Lucia, a 1,400-unit resort offering six different floor plans and full or fractional ownership; and the Monarch project in Cancun, Mexico, which is offering 8,000 residential lots on 4,500 acres.

"The developers love our program, because we can market their projects to any interested RE/MAX agent," Mevellec says. "They understand they can't do this themselves. The developers in Cancun told me that when they cold-call agents, some don't even know where Cancun is."

Mevellec's certification program offers Associates across the RE/MAX network a new opportunity to build business, she says.

"What they can do is market themselves all over again with something new," she says. "They can tell their past clients that if they want to buy a resort home, 'Come to me first, because I can help you.' Our program shows them how to do that; what the pitfalls are, what agreements in writing they need to have."

Mevellec thinks her system fits perfectly with the RE/MAX network.

"RE/MAX people understand the concept because they know the value of international connections," she says. "It's important for me to work with people who understand that."

Copyright © 2007 RE/MAX International Inc. 6/13/07