Minneapolis, MN
United States
It came as a surprise to Orville Fillbrandt that this latest honor had come his way. “I know I had been promoting buyer representation more than anyone else in the state of Minnesota, but I didn’t know what kind of competition there would be on a national level,” he said. The way he sees it, his advocacy of buyer representation was a natural offshoot of the disclosure laws that took effect in his state in the 1990s. An ABR® since 1995, he saw the acquisition of REBAC by the National Association of REALTORS® the following year as a sign that buyer representation was here to stay.
Fillbrandt still represents both the buyers and sellers. He finds his ABR® designation to be invaluable when working with a buyer’s rep in his seller’s transaction. “The whole idea is to promote a better level of professionalism and a better understanding of representation,” he says. He and his wife, Michelle, who bill themselves as “Spouses Selling Houses” have 46 years of combined real estate experience.
No stranger to honors, Orville Fillbrandt was the RE/MAX Real Estate Guide’s number one agent in volume and transactions in 1996. That same year he was inducted into the RE/MAX Hall of Fame. He has been a member of the RE/MAX 100% Club for nine years. He was CRS of the year in his chapter. He serves on the Minnesota Association of REALTORS® executive committee and board of directors, and on the NAR board of directors.