What is better, having a large well-known Brokerage represent you or having your home sell in a timely manner? We like to think that a well-known name and marketing can go together, but this is often not the case. Here are a few false ideas many people have about real estate agencies.

1. Brokerages are big because they are great at selling homes.

The size of a real estate brokerage has little to do with the amount of homes the agents are selling or even selling well. The real reason some brokerages are large is based solely on the fact that most agents are independent contractors who must work for a Brokerage if they want to have work. A Brokerage will form an umbrella like agency to cover these agents in exchange for a portion of their commissions.

Agents do have many options when choosing who to work for and it does say something about a company if many choose to work for a particular Brokerage. They may think the company does good business or pays higher commissions, but it does not mean that the company sells homes better. In fact, large companies often push for higher and faster turnover of properties instead of quality and care. They sell as many homes as quickly as possible. The sheer numbers keep the business doors open and doing well much like a mass production factory.

2. Large brokerages have larger networks of buyers.

This used to be very true before the introduction of the internet. Before Realtor.com and Craigslist we depended on having large networks of people and buyers under one roof in one company but social networking has shifted in recent years. 80% of buyer’s will begin their home search on the internet. Now we also utilize how many Facebook followers we have or how many hits our website receives. Social networking is just as powerful today as it has always been however we no longer need the gossip and water tank chatter you used to find in a large corporate office. The size of an office no longer matters when it comes to marketing a home.

3. Big brokerages are safer to use.

We usually assume that large companies have more attorney’s and management to watch over every little detail of a transaction to make sure things are done properly. This is not true, in fact, it can be easy for details to slip through the cracks in a large brokerage because there is too much going on at the same time. Reality is that real estate officials enforce the same rules and regulations across the board whether you are a large brokerage or a small boutique office like ours. They oversee transactions very carefully as we are dealing with large financial agreements. It is extremely important to protect our clients no matter the size of the company.

Our Recommendation:
When searching for a Real Estate professional to represent you understand that it is the individual agents activities that will get your home sold well. Take a look at their marketing strategy, their personal skills and ethics that will get the results you want. Choose a brokerage based on skill rather than name and you will be happy every time.