Consumers Know What You Do, or Do They?

A recent survey has poured salt on a festering wound that the Realty Industry seems unwilling to heal.

A new survey by the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer Federation of America reveals that while 84 percent of consumers have a favorable opinion of real estate agents and brokers, many of them lack an understanding of the services that real estate professionals provide...Just 36 percent of those polled said they had "a lot" of knowledge about what agents and brokers do, and only 34 percent understood that the multiple listing service typically has the most comprehensive data about for-sale properties.

The survey also found that:

• When asked about commissions,  41 percent of respondents said they thought the real estate industry imposed the exact percentage
• 13 percent thought commissions were governed by state law.
• Only 26 percent were aware that compensation is negotiable.

As my ex-partner Mike Work explained to me in his interview, there are only about 13 hours in post contract work to get the escrow/settlement closed.

So the path to a home sale is:

• Consumer Capture
• Property Marketing/Showing
• Contract Negotiation
• Close

Within, all of this is whole lot of benefits that you offer, that NAR fails to educate the public about.

First off lets be honest here. What is the most expensive venture in this whole process? Consumer capture of course. It is that way in any business. Customer acquisition is always the most expensive activity in a business. Maybe a very close second is when you get near closing and an inspection blows the whole deal. As my friend once said,"it is an agents best clients that pay for the worse ones."

Showing property or marketing a listing can also be expensive but, if done right it really is an extension of your overall marketing to offset the costs.

Some of the intangibles that are tough to articulate (especially if they don't represent your skills), is the advantages and benefits of having a master negotiator. (Have you ever thought that when you were weak in your negotiations in your listing, or control of a client that your were pre-framing your negotiation skills when a contract came across?).

Also, once you are in the escrow, what kind of team do you have supporting the deal? The escrow, title and inspectors all know you and your staff. There are a ton of benefits within that world of potential hurt.

To articulate the advantages of your negotiation and escrow management skills, by pre-framing the client into the potentials for disaster, can be the difference of you winning a listing or buyers agreement.

Comments

[Tara]

Check out my article on the 50 Wealthies Los Angelenos, many of whom are the big players in real estate:
http://www.goodluckdeluxe.com/2007/05/26/breaking-news-50-wealthiest-los-angelenos/

[Atlanta Real Estate]

Great Information, and Great blog.

[Mark Vane]

Hi, Added a new value add to my blog this weekend - a news widget from www.widgetmate.com. I always wanted to show latest news for my keywords in my sidebar. It was very easy with this widget. Just a small copy paste and it was done. Great indeed.