What is full service in real estate? Do you get what you pay for?

Consumers intuitively know what ‘Full Service’ in real estate means:

• Expertise/Consultation (preparation for sale, pricing, planning, staging)
• Marketing (which might include MLS, Internet, Open Houses, advertising, signs, flyers, etc)
• Representation/Negotiation (weighing offers, avoiding mistakes, anticipating next steps)
• Transaction Processing/Problem Resolution (making sure everything is done properly, handling problems as they arise)

The problem is that almost everyone in the business – traditional percentage-based brokers, discount brokers, flat fee brokers, fee for service brokers and so on – claims to do all of those things!  The only brokers who might admit to NOT doing some of it would be self-described ‘Limited Service’ brokers or ‘MLS Only’ brokers.

With so many different kinds of brokers laying claim to  ’Full Service,’ the term becomes  meaningless . . . except that consumers don’t realize this.

In the muddled mess of real estate company marketing, they have come to believe that  ’Full Service’ must also mean ‘Full Commission.’

>>>(and therefore, less than full commission means less than full service)<<<

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

If your less-than-full-commission offering is based on a better, more efficient business model that enables you to be profitable while charging people LESS . . . then the debate is not about the level of service, it’s about how much the consumer wants to pay to sell a house.   And here’s a news flash:  s/he wants to pay as little as possible to get the job done quickly, efficiently and effectively.

At Help-U-Sell Bay Beach Realty, we charge LESS because our business model is more efficient.  And even though we charge LESS, we make MORE than our percentage based competitors because of this efficiency.

That can be a frightening proposition to ordinary brokers stuck in the old percentage based commission prison.

On the defensive, the ordinary broker sometimes spreads false rumors about us.   When Suzy Sixpence from Acme Realty says

Help-U-Sell?  Oh, they’re not Full Service . . . I know they’ll say they are, but they really don’t do anything for their sellers except put the sign in the yard.  Sometimes they won’t even put you in the MLS – and of course, without that, you’re not even on the market!  We all know you get what you pay for, and that’s really true when it comes to Help-U-Sell and the other discounters,

When she says that, she sometimes gets a head nodding Amen from her audience. But they are not nodding because what she’s saying about Help-U-Sell is true. They are nodding because they know there is a difference between Nordstrom and Wallmart . . . and she successfully uses that knowledge to twist perception in the real estate arena.  She reinforces the irrational belief that Full Service means Full Commission . . . and sometimes it works.

Listen:  we do everything they do, and in fact:  we do more; but we charge LESS because we do business in a more efficient, modern way.  Don’t be derailed by the hype – contact us directly to find out what we do, what we charge and how much you could save.