Beware of Discount Brokers - You get what you pay for

Hello Everyone,

Visit www.TeamQuintana.com for more info. There is a lot of discussion about discount brokerages in the news. We will see if they remain in business through the legislation and questions about how they effect the public. I will give my 2 cents. Because the public needs to here more than one side of the story.

What side does the public hear, they hear dollar signs and the discount packages play on the publics miseducation about how to save money on a real estate transaction. The For Sale By Owner companies just like the discount brokers make money by convincing people they should get it cheaper, ot that they can do it with less service, or they can do it themselves. They have screamed it for so long and lined their pockets off it, but don't explain the other side. The side I see because I work with FSBO (For sale by owners) in my area and hear the horror stories and disappointment after they bought one or more of these "discount packages"

There is an old saying "You get what you pay for" and this holds true with discount brokers. I have yet to find in my market a discount broker who either sells alot of homes, or has a marketing plan that can compete with ours. I consider many of these "no Service Borkers" Some literally don't offer any marketing other than input in the MLS and don't negotiate contracts or do any marketing. One of the problems with this is If I have a buyer and the listing says I have to contact the seller and present offers, then I am open for more liability because Instead of giving the offer to the sellers agent, and they explain it to the seller, I am obligated to explain the offer and have certain duties to the public which open me up for all kind of trouble, plus why should I work twice as hard trying to overcome problems with a seller who doesn't trust me while someone else gets paid for doing nothing in the process.

This is why many agents won't show a home where they have to work directly with the seller on less their client wants to see it. I have even had sellers tell me that the discount broker admitted he felt realtors wouldn't show his properties. They run ads incinuating realtors are soaking them for high commissions. Then try and get the same realtors to show their homes. Not likely. I don't like that they leave the sellers in a vunerable situation with little to no marketing, and no expertise, essentially everything we train to do for the public. So in my opinion they are undoing what we have built over the years in way of service and standards designed to protect the public and offer real expertise.

I'm not talking about people who discount their services, I'm talking about the people who don't offer any service. I always say they know what they are worth. If a kia was worth as much as a mercedes then they would charge as much. But the company knows the max they can get for their product and that's what they charge. If I did what the discount brokers do I would lower my prices too. The fact is real estate is getting more and more competitive with the internet and technology and the best agents can sell homes for more with better marketing and they know what their service is worth. The problem is Owners don't hear the horror stories or see real numbers of how these discount brokers are doing. They may hear of a few testimonials, but I have heard of as many bad testimonials and just look at the number of homes that were FSBO, then discount broker, then full service broker to sold. They don't share those numbers in their brochure, they play off the fear of paying to much, not on the service they provide. If you want to save money buying a car, I can sell you a car for a dollar but it may not be worth even a dollar. Selling Real estate has never been about saving money, competitive sales is about selling for more money. Get the right focus and you'll be much better off.

To read more blogs like this one go to our Tips For Hiring a Realtor Section

Ross Quintana

Team Quintana Real Estate - Spokane Washington

Spokane Real Estate Experts

Ross Quintana Your Spokane Real Estate Expert! Team Quintana Real Estate Spokane, WA	Work: 800-756-5251 Ext 1 Mobile: 509-362-1966 ross@teamquintana.com Spokane Investors
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