Big company or small?

Hi Bob,

 I've had experience with BIG and small -- and I've opted to stay with the small brokerage. I've been with Prudential and Keller Williams -- but am now with Independence Realty.

I agree most buyer's don't care, or even notice, the difference. They just want to find the right home.

Listings, on the other hand, seem to be attracted to bigger names. I still get listings, but getting the appt. is s bit tougher. The payoff is worth it to me to be with the smaller broker, who doesn't take such a big chunk of commission.

Personally, I have yet to see a big broker EARN their share. Does your big brokerage really give you $50 a year in advertising and support? If they do, great. I've never seen that. More like $5k.

Lasly, and this isn't necessarily good, I had a friend say "I like the big companies. That way, if something goes wrong, you have something to go after." Needless to say, I don't do business with that friend.

 Happy Sailing ... _/) Paul -- http://www.enewslettersolutions.com/

Thanks for the post.  I'll be following it with interest.  I've only every been with Coldwell Banker and have often wondered about the value of the National Brand.  They take 6% of the gross commission on every transaction which amounts to a fair bit of change.  I've found it very difficult to quantify the benefit of the national franchise.  There, no doubt, is some benefit but whether it equals or exceeds the cost is unclear.

I've been with both and I prefer a smaller company.  I think if you work hard and get results, it doesn't matter what size company. It's all about trust and results.

I started with a big company, did not really get my business going (for personal reasons--namely the arrrival of my third child).  Took some time off and decided that I would go back in to it with a small company because I wasn't sure how committed I wanted to be. Since then I have fully committed and  been with 2 small companies before going out on my own with a partner. I have not found that being with small companies has hampered me at all. Of course, I work REALLY hard to market myself and get no coporate advertising advantage.  I also make more from every transaction.  The way I look at it is that I probably work harder to get my clients, but have to work slightly fewer transactions to make the same money. I, too, wonder if my life would be easier with one of the big companies, but I am happy staying small!

My take on it is that the average consumer is not so brilliant, and thinks that they're going to receive better service from a larger company.  Those of us in the business know otherwise.  I think that the money they waste on advertising is wasteful, and mostly used to pump up the ego of the owners and other corporate types.  If you have the client base, and all the knowledge that you can get from ReMax, take it to the next level, and start your own business.

The post got me thinking.  I extracted current listing data from our local MLS for a single zip code in our area.  I computed the number of active listings by office, looked up the number of agents in a given office and computed the number of active listings per registered agent in that office.  The following table accounts for 80% of the listing volume sorted by decending listing volume.  I marked the national brands with an *.

List Office Code	Office Name	Total # of Listings	Number of Agents	Listings per Agent	% of Total # Listings	Cum % of Listings
B10603	B10603 C J BROWN  PERKINS	30	153	0.196	9.1%	9.1%
B85704	B85704 RE/MAX FIRST ASCENSION	20	20	1.000	6.1%	15.2%	*
B85701	B85701 RE/MAX FIRST	20	128	0.156	6.1%	21.2%	*
B10601	B10601 C J BROWN  SHERWOOD	20	148	0.135	6.1%	27.3%
B12102	B12102 COLDWELL BANKER MACKEY ASCN	19	47	0.404	5.8%	33.0%	*
B55501	B55501 BURNS & CO INC	18	57	0.316	5.5%	38.5%
B61701	B61701 RE/MAX EXCELLENT PROPERTIES	13	8	1.625	3.9%	42.4%	*
B71201	B71201 ALL STAR REAL ESTATE GROUP	11	6	1.833	3.3%	45.8%
B56501	B56501 BLOOMINGHOUSE REALTY LLC	10	18	0.556	3.0%	48.8%
B75401	B75401 REAL ESTATE ONE GROUP, LLC	9	4	2.250	2.7%	51.5%
B65801	B65801 M A ALLEN REALTY GROUP LLC	9	77	0.117	2.7%	54.2%
B21201	B21201 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY REDSTIC	8	242	0.033	2.4%	56.7%	*
B48101	B48101 LAKEWOOD REALTY LLC	7	1	7.000	2.1%	58.8%
B47501	B47501 COLDWELL BANKER ONE	6	102	0.059	1.8%	60.6%	*
B17301	B17301 EASTBANK REALTY	6	27	0.222	1.8%	62.4%
B69101	B69101 ACCESS REAL ESTATE GROUP INC	5	4	1.250	1.5%	63.9%
B47701	B47701 PRUDENTIAL GARDNER REALTORS BR	5	51	0.098	1.5%	65.5%	*
B46301	B46301 VILLAR & CO. REAL ESTATE	5	21	0.238	1.5%	67.0%
B14201	B14201 CENTURY 21 INVESTMENT REALTY	5	34	0.147	1.5%	68.5%	*
B11901	B11901 RE/MAX REAL ESTATE GROUP	5	35	0.143	1.5%	70.0%	*
B55301	B55301 BUILDERS DIRECT SALES REAL EST	4	6	0.667	1.2%	71.2%
B50501	B50501 ERA STIRLING PROP. BLUEBONNET	4	32	0.125	1.2%	72.4%	*
B43401	B43401 PRIME REALTY GROUP	4	4	1.000	1.2%	73.6%
B84301	B84301 TIGER TOWN REALTY LLC	3	4	0.750	0.9%	74.5%
B74301	B74301 MCDONALD NOLAN & SOSSAMON REAL	3	26	0.115	0.9%	75.5%
B65601	B65601 AREA REALTY SERVICES LLC	3	12	0.250	0.9%	76.4%
B58901	B58901 KEYSTONE REALTY	3	15	0.200	0.9%	77.3%
B57401	B57401 GEAUX REALTY CORPORATION	3	5	0.600	0.9%	78.2%
B53201	B53201 HELP-U-SELL REALTY GROUP	3	2	1.500	0.9%	79.1%
B47503	B47503 COLDWELL BANKER ONE HIGHLAND	3	25	0.120	0.9%	80.0%	*

 

Well AR sent me off on another tangent.  Oh well, it was a slow day today anyway.