Real Estate Home
Buyers
   
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How We Do It
How do you offer superior service
and lower commissions?
How do you offer a cash rebate?
How do you offer a lower listing commission when I sell my
home through Brass Key?
Why doesn't everyone offer rebates
and lower commissions?
What do the big name companies
offer that you don't?
How do you offer superior service and lower commissions?
People, Process and Technology. It's taken us about eleven years to perfect it and it goes something like this: Build a team of quality people that you trust. Be sure that each team member has unique skills that compliment each other. Put together a system of procedures to be sure that no detail is missed. Support the team and processes through superior technology.
An example of this is our document imaging system. In the typical office an agent might carry around a paper file. What happens when the agent is on vacation, sick, etc? In our company every team member has at least one other player to back them up. All documents are imaged and available via a secure virtual private network from the Internet (with the proper security clearance). This allows the team to work better and the customer to receive quicker and more reliable communication. By working as a team we become more efficient through the separation of tasks and therefore handle many more transactions per team member than an average agent could handle. Also, by integrating the mortgage company and real estate company we have an integrated workflow that eliminate days or even weeks in the loan approval and closing process.
How do you offer a cash rebate or gift card to buyers?
When you buy a home from Brass Key, and obtain your financing through our in-house mortgage company, YourWayLoan, we give you a $1000 Visa Gift Card to spend ANY way you like.
How do you offer a lower listing commission when I sell my home through Brass Key?
When you sell your home you will typically pay at least a 6 percent commission that is usually split between the buyer's agent and your listing agent. At Brass Key, we can offer you a low, full-service 4.5 percent listing commission. You can save thousands of dollars without compromising superior service throughout the entire selling process...guaranteed.
Why doesn't everyone offer cash rebates and lower commissions?
Given the structure of most big name real estate firms the economics just don't work. Imagine that a big name real estate company has a corporate office, let's say in New Jersey…lots of big executive salaries, private planes, etc. Then there is probably a regional office whose job is to sign up more franchisees. Then the local office has an owner/franchisee and maybe a managing broker. Of course the big real estate offices make their money by having lots of agents so they spend a lot of time and money recruiting agents and training new agents. If you're an average agent in a big real estate office you might sell about six houses a year. Assuming the average total commission is $8400. By the time the agent splits the commission with their broker, franchise fees, etc. that leaves about $5000 to pay license fees, cell phones, put gas in the car, marketing expenses, etc. After all those expenses it's not much of a way to make a living, so the last thing an agent could expect to do is offer a cash rebate or lower their commission. Another factor is that the company can't market a lower commission or cash rebate because then, all of the agents in the office would have to offer it. The bottom line is most big firms seem to like to keep the commission a 'secret' until you are ready to sign the listing contract.
With Brass Key and YourWayLoan you're dealing directly with local owners and a team of experienced pros that work together as employees, not agents each doing their own thing. This lowers our cost structure and makes us more efficient while providing superior marketing and service.
What do the big name companies offer that you don't?
Other than a big name, not much. Real estate is local. TV ads on network television just don't do much to sell your house. The real estate industry is very cooperative. When your house is listed in the multiple listing service every agent from every office in the area has access to view and show the home. Since each agent wants to find the right home for their buyer there is no built-in preference to only show the homes from their own office.
Secondly, if you take a look at the marketing materials from agents, even within the big name offices, you'll see that they're all different. The fact is that real estate companies don't do much more than provide an office and receptionist to their agents.
