Bradenton – REMAX, Sothebys, Coldwell Banker, or Keller Williams, everybody has heard about Real Estate Franchises and many trust them. If we weren’t doing Real Estate for more than a decade in Bradenton and Sarasota we probably would think the same way. And we fully agree to that. In fact, we joined Keller Williams when we arrived in the US in the 2000s. Foremost we had to do it, to fulfill our license apprenticeship. And we wanted to learn how they do it. Well, after 1 year he had what we needed, but we also knew where we didn’t want to be.
Real Estate Franchises give basic confidentiality you can rely on. It’s like having a burger at Mr. Fancy-Burger or at McDonalds. Yes. True and right.
Honestly, if I was in a foreign territory without the means of the internet or personal referrals, I would think the same. Take the MCD. However, when it comes to Real Estate there are different rules than in the rest of America.
Rule #1: 95% of all real estate agents in America are independent contractors without any minimum wage or sufficient background check.
90% of all licensed real estate professionals are “sales associates”. This means in consequence, they are NOT Qualified Brokers. 5% may have the Broker license test passed but prefer to keep responsibility low and are legally broker associates, equally the status of sales associates. This has different reasons, like a prior personal bankruptcy, a prior or a current foreclosure. Or they decided to join a brokerage mill, to cover up financial distress. For you as the client, this means, the broker is residing in Miami or Orlando, but still remains legally responsible.
Only a Qualified Broker can legally be part of the listing or client relationship and show responsibility. Most Real Estate Companies have one or two, maybe a few Qualified Brokers. But you rarely act with them. So practically when acting with an associate at one of the big firms you are doing business with somebody who cannot legally do full business with you. Well, he or she might do business with you, but your legal business partner is the Qualified Broker you never see or interact with you. It’s not the associate in front of you.
Rule #2: About 20% of all Realtors make 80% of the business.
Why? Because there is NO minimum wage for Realtors! Never thought about it? The burger flipper gets it. The car wash guy, too. But the Realtor you are dealing with your most valuable asset does not. He only gets paid when he or she sells your property. For whatever price.
Well, legally there are stringent rules what qualifies as an employee or as an independent contractor. However, those rules do not apply to the Real Estate Industry. That is because of outstanding lobbying work by big franchise real estate companies and the board of Realtors.
In fact, the RE business model of many big franchises (named above) is fully based on employing (not legally as an employee but taking them under contract as an independent associate). The big firms primarily care more about increasing employment than closing specific deals. Their goal is not quality for the customer, it’s quantity of agents. These “professionals” do not get paid anything – unless they are selling. When they sell, they get a fraction sometimes less than 50% of the commission you are paying.
Ask yourself, if this is a beneficial scenario for you?
Rule #3: How to benefit?
Yes, we are also getting paid when selling your property. But, we get 100%. No Franchise Fee to Austin, no split for the Broker (we are the Broker). We are full time Real Estate Professionals not waiting on a daily job for the big chance. We are local and we take responsibility. We do what we love to do and we do it with passion. Additionally we are not hiding behind an unknown Broker (as I said, we are the Broker) and we are also not hiding behind somebody else’s name (e.g. REMAX or whatever). We have our own name, our own identity and we are Sea to Sky Realty.
We get most of our clients by personal referral, i.e. from somebody who knows us and how we work. We do not advertise on billboards, not on TV and we don’t send fancy postcards to neighbors who will rarely buy your house. We invest advertising dollars wisely to benefit our customer not us (at least in the first place) and we have fun doing it.
We want our clients to succeed since this is the basis for any referral and therefore our own success. Only happy clients are good clients.
Sea to Sky Realty
The Florida Real Estate Company with the GERMAN Twist!
Axel and Bea Weiss
Bradenton, Florida 34205
(941) 866 1666
www.bradentonbroker.com