SMALL REAL ESTATE FIRM OR LARGE ONE? WHICH IS BETTER FOR BUYERS AND SELLERS?
When I began my real estate career in 1986, I was with a national brokerage. My husband and I moved to another town and I joined a very large, but not national brokerage in the area. That company always ranked either first or second in our market. After 5 years there, I joined a very small brokerage (average number of agents was FOUR) and stayed there for 10 years. I joined them for a new construction opportunity.
When I made that move, I believed that SELECTION OF THE AGENT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION FOR BUYERS AND SELLERS, and that my past customers would follow me. I'm happy to say that many of them did and I still received referrals. That being said, in general, it was like pulling teeth to get new clients. You would think that it would have been easy to get the back up listing to a new construction transaction, but it wasn't. The homes we were building were in the $350-600K range and none of the deals accepted by the builder included a house sale contingency, so getting the backup home sold was critical. More often than not they chose a large, local or national company and this is what I heard: "We really like you Barb, but we want to be with a large company." I am grateful that I stayed in touch with past clients.
For the past 3 years I have been with RE/MAX and the numbers don't lie. Since this affiliation I have more than doubled my business. COINCIDENCE? I don't think so.
PERCEPTION IS REALITY. We've all heard that before. Name recognition is a large part of any successful company, Microsoft, Nike, Google, etc.. THE BUYING/SELLING PUBLIC HAS TO KNOW YOU EXIST BEFORE THEY CAN CALL YOU. Let me also say that I know there are many good, hard working and qualified agents working in small real estate brokerages, (I was one of those agents) but I believe the majority of the buying and selling public prefers a large company for some or all of the following reasons.
NAME RECOGNITION: Tons of yard signs, billboards, balloons, etc...make a buyer or seller feel secure. It's nice to know that you are affiliated with a company that is well known. Add to this radio and television ads and you really do have maximum exposure.
THOUSANDS OF LISTINGS: They bring in hundreds of thousands of phone calls and internet inquiries increasing the chances for a seller's home to be shown and sold.
EXPERIENCE: Hundreds or thousands of agents that collectively bring with them years of not only their valuable experience, with respect to marketing, negotiation, knowledge of lenders, inspectors, etc. but also their personal spheres of influence, whom they can call when a great house comes on the market. If one hundred agents in an office call only 2 buyers that might be interested in a new listing vs. 4 agents who call 2 buyers, it's easy to see how the numbers come into play.
REFERRALS: Incoming and outgoing buyer and seller referrals happening often and with some companies happening daily.
SUPPORT STAFF: Critical if an agent is going to go out and do what they do best, which is to list and market homes and help buyers find their dream home. I can speak from experience here. Working for a small company I had to do it all. I had to rely on another agent in my office to enter my listings, which sometimes took several hours, create my own postcards, flyers, etc... make my own appointments, all of which and so much more are now handled so efficiently by our support staff.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions.
Regards,
Barb Szabo