Franklin TN Home Sellers Prefer Working with Smaller Brokerages
This morning I read a post written by Ralph Gorgoglione entitled Does it REALLY matter what brokerage you work for to your clients?. I recently made a switch to a smaller, local brokerage. So after reading this post, I began to wonder does it really matter to sellers what brokerage you work for?
Four years ago, as I was interviewing real estate brokerages, I had conducted a similar analysis. Back then, I did believe that sellers prefered working with national firms. Unfortunately, I didn't actually investigate the sales history to verify that assumption.
Since I was totally new to real estate, I was looking for the company that held the largest market share in closed sales for Franklin TN. I already knew I was going to go with a big box firm because of the training offered. However, I wanted to work with the company that held the largest market share.
In October 2007, I determined that Keller Williams held 
approximately 11% of the closed listings for Franklin TN. In comparison, to about 9% for ReMax and Crye Leike--less for other companies. Based upon that information and the training offered, I chose Keller Williams over the other big box brokerages in Franklin.
The question is, "Do sellers prefer to work with big box brokerages?" I was surprised at the findings.
During August 2011, Franklin TN had 129 closed home sales. Of that 129 homes, 65 were listed with small, local brokerages or 50.4%. Big box companies including Keller Williams, ReMax, Coldwell Banker, Prudential, Crye Leike and Century 21 listed 41 of the 129 closed sales or 31.8%, Although, Crye Leike is not a nationally recognized brokerage, it is considered a big box company in the Tennessee area. For that reason, I included their listings in that number. If I subtracted their 11 closed listings, that 31.8% would be reduced to 23.3%. The remaining listings were sold by on-site new construction (21) and FSBO (2).
Based upon this analysis, it would appear that sellers do not prefer to list with nationally recognized big box brokerages. In fact, it actually appears that home sellers in Franklin TN overwhelmingly prefer to list with smaller, local firms.
Why is this? Without interviewing sellers, it's hard to know. If I were to make an educated guess, I would surmise that sellers think they will get better service from a smaller, local firm than a big box company. But this is purely conjecture on my part.
Whatever the reason, Franklin TN home sellers prefer working with smaller brokerages.
The next time you list your Franklin TN home for sale be sure not to exclude an agent from a smaller, local brokerage. Sellers should be less concerned about the brokerage and more concerned about the agent who is listing your property. You will be working very closely with this person. You want to hire someone you feel comfortable working with and someone you can trust during this crucial transaction.
If you would like help selling your Franklin TN home, contact Tammie White at (615) 495-0752.
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