I am often asked by friends morethan anyone, "What’s with this whole real estate team thing?" As with all thingsreal estate everyone has an opinion, so here’s mine…
Often when I’ve been working witha buyer from out of province, or out of country, they are in town for a short, but concentratedamount of time. It requires a significant amount of my time to properly assist out of towners, and if I didn’t have back up could cause me to lose several sales, not to mention neglect the needs of other clients who haveengaged me to find or sell their home. Since we work as a team we are able to devote the necessary time to out of town clients, while taking care of our existing clients at the same time.
Here’s another example of teamwork at its best… Last weekend my daughter returnedfrom a two week trip to see grandparents out east, and the day of her return wehad planned a special dinner for her. During that dinner I received a call froma buyer who was interested in writing an offer on one of our properties. The seller of thatproperty really wanted the place sold (obviously), and I had important family obligations at the same time. Fortunately in mysituation there are several avenues that I have available to me to get thatsituation resolved. In this case, my father, who is one of our partners and has over 43 yearsof experience in real estate was able to handle the situation. He came home with every thing completed justbefore midnight.
Now I can tell you that not allteams or individuals are created equally, but if there is one constantdissatisfaction with consumers and this industry it is that the Associate (thenew term for Agent as per the Real Estate Council of Alberta – funny thing isyears ago they forced us to change from associates to agent and now the pendulumswings the other way) takes the listing never to be heard fromagain. This is a misnomer and everyAssociate is required to spell out their services to you. If they don’t, or thatpage is blank (ie they don’t provide any services beyond those required in the listing contract) then you’ve signed yourself up for some special services indeed. We’ve actually had to expand the mandatory form since all the services and commitments we offerdidn’t fit on the mandatory page!
The fact is our team is verydiversified in talent and experience, but we can’t handle every singletransaction so what should you look for…
Certainly there is nothing wrongwith a competent committed individual. Just because they don’t sell a gazillionhomes doesn’t mean I wouldn’t hire them. Quite the opposite. One thing manyteams do is they offset tasks to unlicensed individuals at a low cost. Thesepaper pushers can be quite efficient but can’t handle anything outside ofspecified duties. They maybe able to offload some of the more tedious tasksrequired of an Associate or Realtor but at the end of the day that is all theycan do.
Identify what is important to you in the marketing of your home and pickingthe person or persons that fit your needs. Factors to consider are follow up, availability to show yourproperty, open houses, marketing materials, marketing plan, and experience. As I have mentioned there are some tremendouslycompetent people in this business, there are also some real ninny’s in myopinion and you will end up with the latter and you don’t interview any others. I wouldn’t look for sympathy.
For those that think you don’tneed a Realtor, there will be no explaining the complexities and the vast amountof hours and time involved in selling a property. For those considering using aprofessional do your homework. Not all teams or individuals are createdequally. For more information on our marketing programs or services pleasecontact us at listings@teamjohnston.com
For those who have engaged theservices of another and have questions relative to what they are doing…Askthem.
