Big vs. Small Brokers
We’ve heard the upside of big brokers is exposure and larger network, including Manhattan brokers. Any advantages to working with a smaller brokerage besides a possibly lower commission rate? Thanks.
We’ve heard the upside of big brokers is exposure and larger network, including Manhattan brokers. Any advantages to working with a smaller brokerage besides a possibly lower commission rate?
Thanks.
We used a broker from a small place to sell our apartment and loved him. The benefits we got were three:
-lower commission (I think it was 3 or 4% total)
-specialty in our neighborhood
-and TIME to market our property… he did two open houses a weekend, and very often people would come on a saturday, and come back again the next day.
We sold in 6 weeks and got many offers. We ended up at $645k for a 2 bedroom in park slope. The other posters seem to think brokers don’t look at other broker’s places. I’m not so sure. Most of the potential buyers we had came with brokers. Everyone uses the MLS and looks at NYtimes, so I’m not sure about all of this. It certainly was NOT our experience.
If you want to talk to him, try Jesse Temple at Charles Rutenberg Realty.
Just be sure you’re aware with whoever you deal with that co-broking is VERY important. You’ve got to create a buzz about your place and to do that you need to get the most people in possible to see it.
My advice would also be, accept that while you’re selling your place it’s not your own. When we were looking as buyers we quickly got fed up with sellers who had very restrictive showing times. Being open to making it work is part of the process starting the minute you put the place on the market.
The usual stuff about keeping it clean and pretty applies too. I spent $40 a week on flowers, but I really think those little things make a difference.
Corcoran, BHS, Prudential DE do not work together. There is rivalry among them, they want to keep it all in-house. Of course they will cobroke with another office if they have to, but if they have a buyer within their own office, you can be sure that buyer has an advantage over a buyer from another office.
Also, if anyone from Corcoran, BHS, Prudential DE have a ready buyer, they have no problem calling a listing agent from a smaller office to see one of their listings for a cobroke. There are no issues about “proper relationships” unless it is personal.
It is not true “small firms didn’t cobroke in the good times.” The small firms were in Park Slope long before the big firms and it was not customary to cobroke in Park Slope. The big firms weren’t even in Park Slope. They did not come to Park Slope until the “good times” hit Park Slope and money was to be made on Park Slope.
Agreed that if priced correctly, your property will sell. In today’s market, buyers are checking the NY Times everyday or every other day for anything new regardless of which office has the listing and regardless of whether or not they are coming from Manhattan. So you should choose an office/agent/broker that you are most comfortable with, does professional photos/floorplan, advertises on the NY Times website and has a good selling track record.
Small firms don’t truly co-broke. They say they do but Corcoran, Prudential DE and Brown Harris are the only three firms who truly work together in Park Slope. The small firms didn’t co-broke in the good times (because they didn’t need help selling when everyone was buying) but now the market is down they don’t have the proper relationships with other firms to cobroke.
With that said, pricing is everything. Anyone can sell your property if you price it right from the start. Pricing too high with a large brokerage doesn’t work. Pricing right with a small firm will end up saving you some coin in the end.
As long as the brokerage co-brokes (from day 1) and does the approriate marketing.
A so-called large firm agent that doesn’t know anything about Brooklyn is just as useless a a local broker that charges less but does not co-broke.
If you have an $800K + property, odds are your potential buyers are using a buyer’s broker. Many small local Park Slope firms do not co-broke, hence you greatly reduce your buyer pool. On the other hand, because they won’t have to share it with a buyer’s broker they charge lower commission.
In the Park Slope market, I’ve had excellent interactions with Ideal Properties. Their office is on Berkeley Place and 7th Avenue.
My experience has been only with rentals so far, but they’ve been really super professional and honest.
Thanks for the feedback. Area is Park Slope so there are smaller brokerages that specialize the local market, but some advice we’ve received is that the larger firms can bring in the Manhattan buyers who potentially have more to spend…
All good points.
But I do think that a Manhattan presence is beneficial, which tends to mean the larger firms. No had data behind that but there are those of us that scour the web for listings religiously when it’s time to buy. I just don’t think everyone’s the same in that regard and the physical pipeline into Manhattan might help – especially for those properties Manhattanites might cross the bridge for.
There are some smaller brokerages that buyers tend to go to if they are looking in a very specific area and the brokerage is concentrating on this area. They usually have lots of connections in the neighborhood, know the shadow inventory and will tell you exactly why the two listings that looked similar went for different prices. They know the “local” market much better than the big brokerages, so if there is such a small brokerage in your area, you may get a better service.