If you’re considering Chattanooga Realty Services, there are many options from which to choose. Many buyers and sellers think “bigger is better”. But that’s not true if you’re looking for better marketing, service and lower costs overall.
Republished courtesy of ALTtitle.com
Smaller Real Estate Agencies are Better
It can all add up to a more personal experience.
When the time comes to buying or selling a home, there are many advantages to enlisting the help of a realtor. They have the education and experience in your local market, can act as buffers between you and the seller’s agent if you’re looking at a home to purchase, and can handle the negotiations and volumes of paperwork for you. And that’s just for starters.
But how do you know which agency will best represent you, regardless of whether you’re buying or selling?
If you ask Frank Dowd, a licensed title agent and the founder of Associates Land Transfer Inc. (ALT), he’ll tell you to work with a smaller agency.
“Smaller agencies can be better because the brokers and agents can offer you more flexibility,” he said.
Most of the big brokerage companies are owned by corporations and make the majority of their profits from a slew of ancillary services, he explained. Agents with larger companies don’t have very much flexibility due to bureaucracy and layers of management. With smaller agencies, both buyers and sellers can feel like they’re receiving personal attention from their agent, which is not something big companies can often offer as readily. They can get answers to questions more quickly and resolutions to problems faster with smaller companies.
“When you’re dealing with a smaller company, it has the flexibility to be able to adapt quickly and make changes if necessary,” Dowd said. Shawn Tammaro, Co-Founder and Broker of Record with Entourage Elite Real Estate in Conshohocken, echoed that statement.
“Small brokers can implement the latest technology in minutes versus the large brokers taking months and years sometimes to make necessary technological and procedural advances,” Tammaro said.
With technology and the Internet, small agencies have the same resources as the big guys – you’ll get the same Multiple Listing Service (MLS) access and are privy to listings on other websites as well.
When it comes to marketing your home, you might be at a disadvantage using a large brokerage.
“There are very little standards at large brokerages. Any agent, regardless of tenure, can get a listing but there are no set marketing standards for each agent to comply with,” Tammaro said. For instance, he explained, a top-producing agent at a large agency may invest in professional photography for a listing while a new agent with limited funds may not.
“If the clients are paying the same amount, then shouldn’t there be a professional standard for the way pictures look or the way the write up is done?” Tammaro questioned.
Additionally, big real estate companies don’t have the same pricing flexibility as smaller firms. Buyers and sellers have a better chance of negotiating the commission with smaller companies’ agents.
“You don’t get the opportunity to get the best pricing with big agencies. Ultimately, I think small agencies save their customers money,” Dowd said.
While big agencies may have the knowledge of the general area you’re buying and selling in, smaller brokers can be familiar with specific neighborhoods, which means they’ll have a good idea of the pricing in each neighborhood and know when homes are hitting the market.
“Smaller brokers value every client more because every client represents a larger share of the overall business,” Tammaro stated.
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When I began to consider opening my owner brokerage firm – Love Where You Live Realty in Chattanooga, Tennessee – I was working at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Realty Center. We were in the middle of Covid and Sellers were canceling their listings by the 100’s.
I immediately began to think of alternative ways to work within the market, leveraging virtual tours like the Matterport Tours (that literally walk you through homes remotely) among many other options. Berkshire Hathaway hadn’t provided guidance, options or recommendations for how to adapt and proceed because they’re a big corporation (hello Warren Buffet) and changes take a long time to make.
I left Berkshire Hathaway during the Covid pandemic so I could offer my Clients immediate solutions due to my flexibility and immediate adaptability available as an independent broker.
Contact me today to learn more.
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