Real Estate Companies – Who are the best?

Finding the best real estate companies in Evergreen or the Denver Foothills can be hard. Buyers and sellers ask their friends “do you know of a good real estate company?” and every friend gives them a different name. There are national and international real estate companies and there are small local and regional real estate companies. Orson Hill Realty is a local/regional real estate brokerage. The advantage of working with a regional real estate company is huge. Most local real estate companies have much more room to work with you on the listing percentage of your home. They usually charge their brokers a much lower split and that means the listing broker is able to pass the savings on to you as well as spend more money on marketing your home. There aren’t many buyers out there that would ever say “oh that listing is with a local company, we love the home but we would rather buy our next home listed with a large brokerage firm.” That would most likely never happen. So as a seller it might be a huge benefit for you to use a smaller real estate company.

What are the costs real estate agents pay to larger real estate brokerage

People are amazed when they hear how much a real estate broker (agent) pays to the national real estate companies they work for. The agent is responsible to pay for just about everything because most agents are independent contractors. That means the agent pays for insurance, office fees, advertising if their business, advertising their listings, desk fees, franchise fees, file storage fees, gas, car, not mention the huge split of the commission that can be 30, 40 and sometimes 50% of the commission and many more expenses. That usually doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room to spend money on marketing your listing. Most smaller firms don’t nickle and dime their agents as much. The owner/broker doesn’t have the huge over head of a franchise looming over them.

Other advantages of smaller firms

Most of the national and international real estate companies hire agents right out of school, some even recruit before agents get their licences. You might end up with an agent that just got their licence. Also when there are 65 agents in one real estate company you are just another transaction. Just another file. Most smaller firms will only hire experienced agents. They will treat you as part of the family. It is much easier to reach the broker in charge in a small real estate company. They also typically work closer together for the same goal. If you can’t reach your agent at Orson Hill Realty there will be someone else happy to take you to a property or answer your questions.  Small real estate companies usually offer the same agency as the large ones and sometimes more. That means they can be your listing agent, buyer’s agent for any type of real estate transaction.