As a newer agent, I can still remember coming into real estate. One of my biggest decisions was what broker I should go with. I knew that I could get on with about any broker and had brokers and agents from all sorts of different offices recruiting me. I interviewed and talked with a couple brokers at area John L Scott offices and Windermere offices. I also considered Prudential and Keller Williams. Ultimately, by talking to many people I realized that the size of the broker and brand isn’t what mattered, to be successful I had to find the office that was the right fit for my style so that I could succeed.

Ultimately, every buyer or seller is choosing the agent…not the company. As you know, I chose a small broker…one with less than 30 agents in our office! With some offices around this region having over 100 agents in a single office with thousands throughout the country we are considerably small! But, I have the exact same tools and resources that any other agent would have. I actually may have more because I get more direct support from my broker. I have built a personal relationship with my broker so that I can call her in the middle of any appointment to get an immediate answer. She will also go out on appointments with me to help give my clients even more confidence and professional advice when needed.

Another reason I chose this brokerage is because I have even more freedoms to be aggressive in my marketing. Many of the large corporate offices have restrictions on their marketing. I believe this hurts many agents because every listing looks the same. In my opinion…almost every single Windermere sign and flyer looks alike. This is not an advantage for sellers in this difficult market. The large offices do offer very strong training programs for new agents…which some really need to be successful. Personally I am a self learner. I also have learned so much by just being hands on and asking many questions from my broker. I like to go into Barnes and Noble and grab a book or two about real estate and just read through the tips and legal issues. I learn so much each week!

So, when you begin to choose your agent for your next real estate transaction don’t discount small brokerages. Some are good, some are bad. Some large brokerages are good…some are bad. Any agent will tell you that you aren’t buying the brokerage…but rather the agent. Choose your agent wisely and you will enjoy your experience.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 8:21 am and is filed under Real Estate Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.