Brendon Payne
Century 21 The Harrelson Group
843-222-5771
brendonpayne@c21harrelson.com
Don't get locked into a contract you can't get out of Commission Plans From 2%-6% Depending on who finds the buyer you could pay as little as 2%. If you hire me you have an entire team of professionals working for you, not a single agent.
Don't Trust Me........Trust My Past Clients:
https://www.zillow.com/profile/Brendon-Payne/#reviewsDon’t give up... Each month hundreds of very salable properties come off the market because they were either marketed improperly or the seller didn’t have enough information to choose the correct pricing strategy.
If your property has been on the market and failed to sell, you’ve heard the claims of at least 1 agent on what it’s going to take to sell, and it didn’t work. It’s critical to get the correct information regarding a successful marketing plan before you choose the next agent you work with.
Ask most agents what their marketing plan is for your home, and they are going to talk to you about how many websites they put the home on, their virtual tours and 3D photos, and how much they “Advertise”...oh, and they’re also going to say your price is too high.
If this is all they are presenting to you, keep looking until you find another agent that has adjusted their marketing strategies with the way that buyers shop for homes. Today, an effective marketing plan for your home should focus on 3 critical areas.
Your Property’s Online Profile
Aggressive Target Marketing Strategies
Your Agent’s Previous Experience In Interpreting Market Data
The Agent you choose should be able to discuss multiple strategies within each to give you an advantage against the competition, and help you net the most amount of money in your pocket.
When your property fails to sell and you either request that it be taken off the market or the original listing contract expires it shows up on the “HOT SHEET” of the local MLS.
From there, anyone with a computer can go into the public tax records and find out the owner of the property. Once the agent finds the owner of the property there are online services the agent can use to look up contact information for the owner. Contact information can include phone numbers (current, past, business, cell phones, family cell phones etc.) Many services include emails as well. Yes, even #s that are included on the National DNC list are provided (although they have a disclaimer that the # is on the DNC list).
It’s important to understand that this process used to be manual, and the agent had to complete each step. Now, there are countless companies that complete all of this work automatically each day and the agent is delivered the call list each morning.
There are agents that will continually watch the hot sheet and call owners immediately when the property comes off the market in hopes of getting a listing. There are very skilled, capable agents that call expired and withdrawn listings when they see an opportunity to help someone in an area they specialize in but it’s important to do your homework since there are also agents that are typically new, and trying to build their business. Many times they are just playing a numbers game and calling everyone that comes off in hopes of finding someone who wants to relist quickly without doing their homework on the agent’s track record.
One of the most confusing points for a seller is the fact that nearly every agent they talk to claims to be #1. As you can imagine, if you slice and dice things enough, I suppose everyone can be #1 in something. As a seller you’ll need to be very clear on exactly what the stats an agent is presenting to you represent.
Many sellers are shocked to see the difference in production from one agent/office to the next. The following statistics were taken directly from the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors 2017 Year End Stats sheet for the Top 50 Agents and Offices.
In 2017 The Top 10 Agents in the market represented 5% (1,405 transactions) of the total transactions
In 2017 The average # of sales for the top 10 agents was 140
In 2017 The #50 Agent in the market sold less fewer than 65 properties.
In 2017 there were HUNDREDS of agents in the market that sold fewer than 1 property per month.
In 2017 The # 1 Individual Office (C21 The Harrelson Group) Helped nearly 10X the amount of families as the #50 office in the market. 1,732 transactions.
In 2017 There was only one individual office that helped more than 1,000 families buy or sell a property.
In 2017 There were only 11 individual offices that helped more than 500 families.
The # 50 Individual office had less than 200 transactions in 2017
You can see, there is a VAST difference in production from those in the Top 10 agents and Offices Vs. those that are in the #40-50 range. Now, imagine how the most productive agents and offices stack up against the rest of the choices you have, considering there are HUNDREDS of Offices and THOUSANDS of licensed agents in our market.
Bottom Line: Do your homework and make sure that you clearly understand the experience level of the agents that you’re trusting with one of your largest financial moves.
The misconception that all agents are the same has never been more costly to sellers. Just 10 years ago, an effective marketing plan was essentially having MLS access, and doing some print advertising in the local newspaper and home magazine. Fast Forward to present day and the game has changed.
As an owner you should expect to have an effective marketing plan that creates maximum exposure for your property. A powerful marketing engine not only takes time to develop, it also takes a lot of money. The individual agent today has been all but eliminated when it comes to competing with the high volume teams when it comes to being able to create the most exposure for their listings.
Considering that most individual agents in the market are selling fewer than 12 homes a year (1 per month), they are likely keeping all of the profit from the sale as personal income. It makes sense if you look at the math. Use the average sales price of our market at $200,000 and the agent gets a 3% commission which is $6,000. From the $6000 they will likely have a company split. Let’s say that’s 25% although most are lower. After split they have $4500. You will need to cover taxes, business expenses, vehicle, fuel, etc. Most agents are lucky if they’re going to take away $2500 of what is left. That means their income for LIFE on 12 deals is around $30,000. There’s nothing left to invest.
Compare that scenario to an agent/team that is selling 100+ properties. The only way they can get to that level is by re-investing in the tools that will allow them to sell more homes (leads to more return), quicker (happier clients and more referrals), and add staff (for a better client experience).
Also, over the years look at the experience gap that is created from someone selling 15-20 homes a year vs. someone selling 100+. This experience can be leveraged by sellers.
Essentially hiring a high volume team is like hiring multiple specialists to work on your home for the same cost as hiring one.
Today the individual agent has been all but eliminated when it comes to competing with high volume teams attempting to create the most exposure for their listings.