Does The Real Estate Brokerage Brand Really Matter To The Consumer?

My answer to the above question is emphatically, yes! At least in my experience, where I work.

Alain Pinel has been adding new offices during these difficult times, because now more than ever, consumers realize they need the most professional, competent and experienced Realtor they can find. Real estate transactions today are not easy and there are legal land-mines to be avoided, whether you are a home buyer or a home seller. This is not just the situation caused by short sales or foreclosures, but also for normal sales, because the financing landscape is constantly changing.

In recent years, prior to the economic downturn, many inexperienced people got a real estate license, although most completed only a few transactions each year. Like many fields 10-20% of real estate agents account for 80-90% of the business. Everyone knows a real estate agent, and many are either friends or family. The temptation to use a part time agent with the expectation of receiving a rebate of a portion of their commission has often backfired when the inexperienced agent is unsuccessfully in securing the property or closing the transaction.

Larger real estate companies have a brand to maintain and are seen by the unscrupulous as having deeper pockets, so training of their agents and setting high standards of best practice are of utmost importance. Alain Pinel Realtors has a reputation of being a boutique brokerage, often dealing will more expensive properties. We have weekly sales meeting to review legal matters, financing, changing technology, etc. to keep us top in our field. Setting standards and levels of expected performance are key.

A couple of times very recently I have retold this story of my experience when I decided to join Alain Pinel Realtors 10 years ago: After an enjoyable interview with the President of APR and the mutual decision that it would be a good fit for us to join forces, I was asked by the President if there were anything they could do for me. I responded that I was going on a listing presentation that evening and needing a package of forms that APR used. Upon going to the cupboard where the listing packages were normally stored and finding none there, the President said “we will get one for you right away.” We shook hands and 10 minutes later I received a call on my cell phone with the President saying “Mr. Bonetti, where may I have that listing package delivered to you?” The bar was set as to what my expected level of service was to be; I have never forgotten that eloquent lesson!

Don’t get me wrong. I do think the individual agent is very important to the consumer too. This is why I blog – primarily for the benefit of those who have been referred to me so they will know me even better and feel comfortable that they have made the right choice of whom to represent their interests in a real estate transaction. Having to regularly express my views in this very public way makes me careful to think things through and to be as accurate and fair as I can be.

Occasionally I come into contact with a really exceptional agent not affiliated with a top brokerage and occasionally I see agents within our own brokerage who do not make me proud to be associated with them, but in my experience both are exceptions rather than the rule. Incidentally, my definition of top brokerage is more akin to their reputation for having professional, competent agents and the productivity per agent rather than size of the brokerage in terms of number of agents. We agents know when we are working with pros or not; when we are not, we end up doing their job as well as ours to get it done right.

This topic of whether the agent or the brokerage is more important to the consumer has recently been debated in the March 24, 2010 blog post of Phoenix, Arizona Realtor friend Jay Thompson, who has so far received 244 comments on his post! My conclusion out of all that was written is that unfortunately many brokerages throughout the country are not great brands deserving of good reputations, but those that are will attract the best agents – for those brokerages who pursue excellence, both the company brand and the agent matter to the consumer.

Rick Bonetti | Alain Pinel Realtors | 408-857-8800 | DRE #01237009

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