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Seth H. EdwardsFeb. 2011: Deatherage & Associates wises up, lowers listing rate
By: Brandia Deatherage ( More Entries )
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Especially now, after losing equity when the real-estate bubble burst in 2007, Beaufort County homeowners deserve a break on the commission fee that they pay to real-estate brokers for listing and selling their properties.
This February, Washington-based real-estate brokerage Deatherage & Associates will be pioneering this sentiment of savings door-to-door, as its brokers campaign to help homeowners sell their properties at a discounted commission rate.
The typical Beaufort County real-estate brokerage charges its clients a 6-percent commission to sell their homes. Today, Deatherage & Associates announced its company's future commitment to sell its clients' properties under a new 5-percent commission policy.
Deatherage & Associates is partly able to shave a percentage point from its per-sale profits, thanks to its January-2011 decision to cancel its expensive, more burdensome than beneficial, membership with the local Realtor board. Deatherage & Associates will translate the savings from not having to pay hefty membership dues into a discounted commission rate.
At a 5-percent, rather than 6-percent, commission, on a home that sells for $150,000, the savings to the homeowner would be $1,500--enough for the homeowner to purchase a refinished antique sofa or Bosch refrigerator. Often, however, in this economy, the $1,500 is desperately needed to apply to bills, or for help in starting over, rather than for such luxury items.
Extensive research has debunked the myth that, in order to best serve its clients, a real-estate brokerage has to be a member of the exclusive, self propagating, unnecessary Realtor club. The North Carolina Real Estate Commission certainly does not require or even encourage Realtor membership among North Carolina licensed real-estate brokers. Furthermore, with all of the networking tools made available by the Internet, there is no longer any need to dole out membership dues just to attend industry socials and have access to Realtor-brand sales instruments.
In fact, Deatherage & Associates brokers are confident that their clients will be even better served under the company's future independent status. A business, when not hampered by the artificial construct of an invented organization, is more mobile, original, resourceful and inspired. By not participating in the Realtor club, Deatherage & Associates is not becoming a limited-service discount brokerage; it is becoming a re-channeled-service discount brokerage. Deatherage & Associates will be thinking outside of the Realtor box, to learn to succeed where others in the industry get stagnant and fail.
For example, the public has been convinced by their Realtors, that the best and only way to advertise their listing is on the Realtor-monopolized Multiple Listing Service. However, as an advertising tool for listings, the MLS is rather insignificant in scope when compared to other publicly available online real-estate databases. The only people who can access the MLS are Realtors themselves, via login and password, limiting access to roughly 150 people in Beaufort County.
Realtors don't tell you that the most visited online real-estate database in America, Zillow.com (currently reporting nearly 16 million unique visitors per month) is publicly available to both real-estate brokers and buyers, alike. Deatherage & Associates has finally wised up and dropped the false mental, operational boundaries that were taught to everyone so long ago, and will be listing its clients' properties on Zillow.com, Yahoo! Real Estate, Trulia.com, Craigslist and many other sites where actual buyers go to search for properties. From now on, in this and every other marketing attempt, Deatherage & Associates will be thinking like buyers and mixing with buyers, instead of thinking like a Realtor and mixing with Realtors.
Armed with integrity and a true desire to represent the interests of their clients, perhaps this company can help jumpstart the real-estate market and get things rolling again.
This February, Washington-based real-estate brokerage Deatherage & Associates will be pioneering this sentiment of savings door-to-door, as its brokers campaign to help homeowners sell their properties at a discounted commission rate.
The typical Beaufort County real-estate brokerage charges its clients a 6-percent commission to sell their homes. Today, Deatherage & Associates announced its company's future commitment to sell its clients' properties under a new 5-percent commission policy.
Deatherage & Associates is partly able to shave a percentage point from its per-sale profits, thanks to its January-2011 decision to cancel its expensive, more burdensome than beneficial, membership with the local Realtor board. Deatherage & Associates will translate the savings from not having to pay hefty membership dues into a discounted commission rate.
At a 5-percent, rather than 6-percent, commission, on a home that sells for $150,000, the savings to the homeowner would be $1,500--enough for the homeowner to purchase a refinished antique sofa or Bosch refrigerator. Often, however, in this economy, the $1,500 is desperately needed to apply to bills, or for help in starting over, rather than for such luxury items.
Extensive research has debunked the myth that, in order to best serve its clients, a real-estate brokerage has to be a member of the exclusive, self propagating, unnecessary Realtor club. The North Carolina Real Estate Commission certainly does not require or even encourage Realtor membership among North Carolina licensed real-estate brokers. Furthermore, with all of the networking tools made available by the Internet, there is no longer any need to dole out membership dues just to attend industry socials and have access to Realtor-brand sales instruments.
In fact, Deatherage & Associates brokers are confident that their clients will be even better served under the company's future independent status. A business, when not hampered by the artificial construct of an invented organization, is more mobile, original, resourceful and inspired. By not participating in the Realtor club, Deatherage & Associates is not becoming a limited-service discount brokerage; it is becoming a re-channeled-service discount brokerage. Deatherage & Associates will be thinking outside of the Realtor box, to learn to succeed where others in the industry get stagnant and fail.
For example, the public has been convinced by their Realtors, that the best and only way to advertise their listing is on the Realtor-monopolized Multiple Listing Service. However, as an advertising tool for listings, the MLS is rather insignificant in scope when compared to other publicly available online real-estate databases. The only people who can access the MLS are Realtors themselves, via login and password, limiting access to roughly 150 people in Beaufort County.
Realtors don't tell you that the most visited online real-estate database in America, Zillow.com (currently reporting nearly 16 million unique visitors per month) is publicly available to both real-estate brokers and buyers, alike. Deatherage & Associates has finally wised up and dropped the false mental, operational boundaries that were taught to everyone so long ago, and will be listing its clients' properties on Zillow.com, Yahoo! Real Estate, Trulia.com, Craigslist and many other sites where actual buyers go to search for properties. From now on, in this and every other marketing attempt, Deatherage & Associates will be thinking like buyers and mixing with buyers, instead of thinking like a Realtor and mixing with Realtors.
Armed with integrity and a true desire to represent the interests of their clients, perhaps this company can help jumpstart the real-estate market and get things rolling again.
| Jan. 2011: Realtors institute new fee for home buyers | Real Estate Business, Real Estate | Friday Foreclosure Check, Feb. 25, 2011 |
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