Bigger is Not Better
The general public (not you, the educated readers of this blog) have always struggled to understand how the real estate industry works. I still get calls from buyers that want to know how much we charge (buyer’s agents are paid by the seller) and sellers that wonder if they have to pay up front for marketing services (they don’t). With the way the media tells stories about the industry, it is no wonder that this confusion exists.
A recent story about the merger between two large real estate companies here is Boise continues to spread misleading information:
“[Home sellers] know right then that we’re not just going to expose them to the Treasure Valley. We’re going to expose them to a thousand agents in the whole state of Idaho. We’re going to expose them into Washington and we’re going to expose them to 100,000 agents across the U.S. We’re going to expose them to 47 countries so the exposure for the customer selling their house is tremendous”
Sounds magical right? The above quote is from the owner of one of the merging companies explaining the so-called advantages of a larger real estate company. What I believe to be misleading is as follows: The advantages of a larger real estate company are that they have more resources for advertising and marketing in order to gain new clients, not to sell their listings. All of their agents are still independent contractors that work for themselves under the umbrella of a responsible broker. This means that the agent you hire to sell your home is the only person who will be trying to sell your home. That agent’s 1000 co-workers don’t necessarily care about your home. They may listen to your agent’s spiel during an office meeting and they may even tour your home with the entire office, but they aren’t working to sell your home. That is, unless they have a buyer that is interested in your home. But guess what? If any licensed real estate agent has a buyer interested in your home, they are going to find it in the same place: the MLS, even if they missed the “office tour.”
Real estate is a co-operative industry. I can sell your home to any buyer, no matter what company they are working with. Those 1000 agents in a big office are just as likely to sell one of my listings as their own office’s listings. A bigger office is not better; a better agent is better.
The moral of the story, in the word’s of Public Enemy: Don’t believe the hype (warning: links to a video that starts automatically).
Photo Credit: Franco Folini via Flickr
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