Elements of Service
All we offer as real estate brokers is service. We don't own the product we're offering for sale, all we do is bring a seller and buyer together to a satisfactory conclusion of a sale. With the dominant business models, those with high percentage based fees, generally you get full service, all of the elements are covered. This full service is not their exclusive province however, and that level of service is available with other business models. Our own being a case in point. Still other models such as the flat fee for MLS listing types offer no services whatsoever. These being the ones that advertise for a couple of hundred dollars upward to put your listing on an MLS, put it on Realtor.com, and give you some blank forms. All MLS listings go to Realtor.com automatically, and the blank forms you can pick up for ten bucks at your local MLS office. The next level are the brokers advertising as discount brokers. Beginning with the false premise that there is some percentage entitlement owed to brokers for their services, reducing that percentage allows them to reduce the level of service they provide. One such broker in our market area advertises a fee for their full services, and advises that they will show the property for an additional 1%. Really tough to get these folks to let go of that percentage of your equity concept.
Let's look at the elements of service due you. Brokers are marketing and selling engines in my view, so the first and foremost element is marketing. We cannot create the desire to buy a home. What we can and must do is identify the people whose desire has moved them to the level of action, either imminent or longer term, and try to attract their attention to our office and our listed products, plus our ability to serve them in their search for a home. Since almost 80% of buyer searches now originate on the internet we are shifting our print media dollars to maximize internet exposure. Interestingly enough a print media product called the Real Estate Book is capturing an increasing share of our dollars. That's because this national company produces regional books, and these guys are so aggressive in their marketing that all of our advertised properties, through their efforts, appear on all the major real estate sites. Each of our properties is keyed right to our web site from all of those appearances. Next in importance in marketing will probably surprise you. That is the real estate sign placed at the listed property, and in the vicinity of it. Prospective buyers have identified the neighborhoods of interest, the signs show them what's for sale. An example: very recently we listed a modestly priced home in a good neighborhood and in two days, without any other exposure, we had 37 phone calls to our office and to the phone of the listing agent. The sale and the negotiation, (the next elements to talk about), are over, the property is in escrow and some of the inspections are being done. Pretty powerful stuff, and not to be under-estimated. In our office we spend a few extra bucks on our signs and use a reflective material that really makes them jump out in the evening hours. One last sign comment, most offices now place flyer boxes, or brochure boxes on their signs to provide a colorful photo description of the home. The "selling" part of our service is really just the exercise of training and experience, listening to our buyer prospect and determining how a particular home fulfills his wishes or needs and pointing out how the features of the home or neighborhood being examined can meet those needs. The showing of homes mentioned above is just part of the selling process and is naturally an integral part of our full service commitment.
This thing is starting to stretch out a bit, so rather than lose you I'll just touch on the other stuff you should expect in a full service listing agreement. Negotiation is a large issue but should result in equity and not in a clear victory for one and disadvantage to the other. We're brokers, not hired guns.
The dreaded paperwork. We hear so much about this and it's mostly nonsense. Brokers quite often use paperwork to exalt their position and indispensibility in the transaction. Actually the paperwork is mainly disclosures about the property which you sign, the rest a fairly simple purchase agreement. Brokers spend a lot of time distancing themselves from responsibility. If asked a relevant question about title the easy answer is asking you to consult a lawyer, if the question is about the house, the answer becomes, ask a home inspector, etc. We can maybe have some future dialogue about this area. Then again,maybe I should ask my lawyer if it's ok to talk about it. The paperwork is a simple clerical exercise. Some brokers charge 1% just to do the paperwork if you and the buyer both show up and have concluded negotiating. Outrageous.
Next array of services have to do with opening escrow, arranging appropriate inspections,and in our office, because we're a mortgage broker, arranging a mortgage if the parties want us to.
If I've left something out, my apologies. In our office our last act of service is to be there at escrow with our clients for the signing of documents. We don't actually do anything, we just feel the people have placed their trust in us and they're entitled to see us there at what is inevitably an emotional time.
Let's look at the elements of service due you. Brokers are marketing and selling engines in my view, so the first and foremost element is marketing. We cannot create the desire to buy a home. What we can and must do is identify the people whose desire has moved them to the level of action, either imminent or longer term, and try to attract their attention to our office and our listed products, plus our ability to serve them in their search for a home. Since almost 80% of buyer searches now originate on the internet we are shifting our print media dollars to maximize internet exposure. Interestingly enough a print media product called the Real Estate Book is capturing an increasing share of our dollars. That's because this national company produces regional books, and these guys are so aggressive in their marketing that all of our advertised properties, through their efforts, appear on all the major real estate sites. Each of our properties is keyed right to our web site from all of those appearances. Next in importance in marketing will probably surprise you. That is the real estate sign placed at the listed property, and in the vicinity of it. Prospective buyers have identified the neighborhoods of interest, the signs show them what's for sale. An example: very recently we listed a modestly priced home in a good neighborhood and in two days, without any other exposure, we had 37 phone calls to our office and to the phone of the listing agent. The sale and the negotiation, (the next elements to talk about), are over, the property is in escrow and some of the inspections are being done. Pretty powerful stuff, and not to be under-estimated. In our office we spend a few extra bucks on our signs and use a reflective material that really makes them jump out in the evening hours. One last sign comment, most offices now place flyer boxes, or brochure boxes on their signs to provide a colorful photo description of the home. The "selling" part of our service is really just the exercise of training and experience, listening to our buyer prospect and determining how a particular home fulfills his wishes or needs and pointing out how the features of the home or neighborhood being examined can meet those needs. The showing of homes mentioned above is just part of the selling process and is naturally an integral part of our full service commitment.
This thing is starting to stretch out a bit, so rather than lose you I'll just touch on the other stuff you should expect in a full service listing agreement. Negotiation is a large issue but should result in equity and not in a clear victory for one and disadvantage to the other. We're brokers, not hired guns.
The dreaded paperwork. We hear so much about this and it's mostly nonsense. Brokers quite often use paperwork to exalt their position and indispensibility in the transaction. Actually the paperwork is mainly disclosures about the property which you sign, the rest a fairly simple purchase agreement. Brokers spend a lot of time distancing themselves from responsibility. If asked a relevant question about title the easy answer is asking you to consult a lawyer, if the question is about the house, the answer becomes, ask a home inspector, etc. We can maybe have some future dialogue about this area. Then again,maybe I should ask my lawyer if it's ok to talk about it. The paperwork is a simple clerical exercise. Some brokers charge 1% just to do the paperwork if you and the buyer both show up and have concluded negotiating. Outrageous.
Next array of services have to do with opening escrow, arranging appropriate inspections,and in our office, because we're a mortgage broker, arranging a mortgage if the parties want us to.
If I've left something out, my apologies. In our office our last act of service is to be there at escrow with our clients for the signing of documents. We don't actually do anything, we just feel the people have placed their trust in us and they're entitled to see us there at what is inevitably an emotional time.
posted by Douglas Doss | 8:34 PM
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