We designed ICIWorld to be affordable from the beginning.

Since going online in 1994, our goal has been to use Internet technology, information sharing and member participation to keep membership costs as low as reasonably possible while helping real estate brokers and salespeople uncover opportunities, make connections and do business.

ICIWorld could employ a large sales force, spend heavily on advertising and pass those costs along through higher membership fees.

We chose another approach.

We encourage members who find value in the service to introduce other licensed real estate professionals. That helps us grow without carrying the expense of a large sales organization.

Lower operating costs can help us keep membership affordable — while every additional participating professional can add more Haves, Wants, buyers, sellers, relationships and opportunities to the network.

The VIP Corporate Discount Card will not be important to every member — nor does it need to be.

But members who purchase computers, rent cars, travel, stay in hotels or use other participating products and services may be able to save hundreds of dollars.

One member reported saving hundreds of dollars on a computer. Another reported substantial savings on a rental car. If those savings equal or exceed the price of membership, then the real estate networking service has effectively cost that member little or nothing.

And that can happen before the member earns a dollar from a real estate transaction.

The discount card can help offset the cost.

The real value is learning how to turn information, relationships and opportunities into real estate business.

Consider a common conversation with a property or business owner:

Without another professional networking method, that conversation may end there.

ICIWorld teaches members how real estate information can be networked professionally and confidentially while respecting applicable brokerage policies, industry standards, disclosure requirements and real estate rules.

This may involve Haves, Wants, prospective sellers, prospective buyers, landlords, tenants, investors or business owners — with appropriate permissions and agreements obtained when required.

In our view, learning how to work professionally with information before it becomes a conventional listing can greatly expand the usefulness of a real estate licence.

For more than three decades, ICIWorld members have used information to connect buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, investors and other real estate professionals.

Our member testimonials document more than $1 Billion in completed real estate transactions resulting from connections made through the service.

Not every piece of information becomes a deal. The value lies in discovering opportunities and creating connections that otherwise might never have occurred.

When the right Have meets the right Want, information can become business.

Executive Members can place ICIWorld IDX links on their websites, allowing visitors to search real estate Haves and Wants.

Inquiries generated through your website can create opportunities for you to handle the business yourself or arrange a referral with another qualified professional.

This can be especially useful to residential, part-time or referral-oriented professionals who uncover commercial, investment, business or out-of-area opportunities they do not wish to handle personally.

You do not have to personally handle every opportunity for the information to have value.

If we had to recruit every new member through commissioned salespeople, managers and a large marketing organization, those costs would eventually have to be recovered through higher membership fees.

Instead, we prefer to reward members who introduce licensed colleagues.

Under the current program, your first qualifying referral can reduce your renewal cost, while additional qualifying referrals can add membership time.

That arrangement benefits the referring member, the new member and the network itself.

Members helping build the network helps us control costs — and more participating professionals can create more opportunities for everybody.

Here is a simple illustration of why one successful transaction can change the entire economics of membership.

In that example, one $30,000 commission is more than nine times the cost of ten years of membership.

There is no guarantee that any member will complete a particular transaction or earn a particular commission. The illustration simply demonstrates how modest the cost of professional networking can be compared with the value of one successful real estate transaction.

Membership should not be judged only by its annual cost.

Consider the information, relationships, referrals, savings, leads and transactions that can become possible because you are connected.

One successful transaction can potentially pay for many years of membership.

We do not want someone to join ICIWorld, pay a membership fee and then forget about the service.

Our pledge is that no member should go longer than 90 days without either:

We have worked with real estate brokers and salespeople for decades and have learned that sometimes one missing item — the right Have, Want, wording, search method, follow-up or connection — can make a significant difference.

We want members actively using the service, developing relationships and creating opportunities.

ICIWorld has been online since 1994.

During that time, we have worked directly with real estate brokers and salespeople and learned how information, networking, searching, follow-up and relationships can lead to business.

We share that experience through orientation, training, networking sessions, our databases, IDX tools and personal assistance.

The purpose is not simply to give you access to a database. It is to help you understand how to use the information.

Not simply access to a website.

You are gaining access to real estate Haves and Wants, searches, networking, referral possibilities, IDX tools, education, orientation, assistance and decades of experience helping professionals learn how to uncover opportunities.

And we have deliberately designed the service so there are several ways for your membership to offset its own cost.

ICIWorld member testimonials document more than $1 Billion in completed real estate transactions resulting from connections through the service.

Read their stories, then make an appointment with us. We will show you how to search, uncover Haves and Wants, network information properly and take fuller advantage of your membership.

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ICIWorld Global Real Estate Networking • Online since 1994