FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
* Why did you not mention print media advertising like newspaper and those free real estate books? Our marketing system is web based. According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), more homebuyers find their agent on the Internet than in all traditional marketing channels (newspaper ads, direct mail, refrigerator magnets, phone directories, etc.) combined. In fact, the Internet has forever changed the way people buy and sell homes, making “the way it used to be” unlikely to ever be again.
* Is it better to stick with a big company to take advantage of things like a relocation department? No. The so called "big companies" are usually franchises filled with a lot of agents that are independent contractors. The relocation department is just another profit center these companies home office. The relocation department is just a source of leads for these independent agents who have to pay the relocation department from 25% to 35% of their commission for that lead. The agent then goes to the same multiple listing services (FMLS and GAMLS) that we use to find the home that matches the requirements of their client. They will be representing the best interest of their client under buyer brokerage in the purchase of the clients next home. Any attempt to push a company listing on that client would be a violation of that trust!
* Do you do open houses? No! If you want an agent to sit around and watch TV and maybe show your home to someone who has not been screened ahead of time, then we are not the agents for you!
* Does your company caravan their listings? No. The caravan is left over from small town real estate where the agents in the office might have been a significant percentage of the total agents in that town. Not so in this market that has over 44,000 agents and over 100,000 listings! Even if the largest office in this area caravanned your listing, it would be less than "a drop in the bucket" of exposure compared to the total number of agents and listings in the system.
* Do you hold agents luncheons? No way! All you do is feed unproductive agents. The high producing agents just do not have time for luncheons, caravans, or open houses.
*How do we know who shows our home when we are not home? Our MLS's uses the most up to date and secure lockbox system in the industry. Every time an agent shows your home, a record of the day, date, time and agent ID are recorded in the lockbox and the agents key. That key is updated every night and that data is merged with your lockbox number by the following day. We can give you a report of showing activity within one to two days of the showing.