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Charging a lower brokerage
fee is one of the ways we choose to distinguish
ourselves from the many, many other realtors
working in our area. The price of homes in
this area has risen so dramatically in the
last 15 years that even with our lower fee
structure, we are able to provide unparalleled
service and the utmost commitment to our clients.
In addition, we don’t have as big an
overhead as the larger corporate real estate
offices, and are happy to pass on this savings
to our clients.
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In most cases, we offer
a 2.5% commission to the buyer’s agent,
and keep just 2.0% on our side. We offer them
more than we keep in recognition of the more
time it usually takes with buyers.
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No. What few sellers know
is that over 50% of all homes listed offer
commissions other than 3% to the buyer’s
agent. Our listings have been sold by every
real estate company in the area and we have
a long history of excellent relationship with
our colleagues. Furthermore, its not likely
that there will be another house just like
yours (same price, size, condition, location,
etc) on the market at the same time as yours
with a higher commission.
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When we first opened our
doors in 1986, we know that other agents were
not happy about having a competitor who called
into question the traditional commission structure.
But as we’re not a big company gaining
market share left and right, they realize
they don’t need to feel threatened by
us. Over these last 20+ years, and lots of
first hand interactions with fellow agents,
we are known and respected as hard working
and highly competent professionals who can
be counted on to do our jobs well. We place
a very high value on the quality of our collaboration
with fellow agents.
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This is the traditional
model of residential real estate brokerage
practice. The seller signs an exclusive listing
agreement and agrees to pay the agreed commission
in exchange for all the services provided
by the broker. The commission is contingent
on a sale actually coming to fruition. Realty
Advocates offers this full service, and is
what most of our clients choose (see Full
Service described in more detail). The
only difference between our full service and
that of our competitors is the fact that we
usually charge several thousands of dollars
less.
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To be contrasted with
full service. Fee for service is where the
full service package is separated into any
number of component parts and combinations.
In this arrangement, different services cost
different fees, and these fees are usually
not contingent upon an actual close of escrow.
This arrangement is suited for for sale by
owners who want assistance with select parts
of the process of selling their home, without
having to pay the higher full-service fee.
While the majority of our clients opt for
the full service program, the a la carte menu
is still an important part of our service
options and one of the things which makes
Realty Advocates unique.
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No. We are fully and proudly
independent. We are locally owned and operated,
and do not have to answer to, or contribute
to the coffers of any corporate conglomerate.
This allows us great flexibility and creativity
to meet the needs of a more varied client
base.
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Yes. Many of our sellers
were once buyer clients, and of course, some
sellers also want to buy again. We have a
unique service-set for our buyer clients,
which is described in the Buyers
Section of our website.
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Yes, extensively. In the
first case, the formerly proprietary Multiple
Listing Service (mls) has its database of
all active listings open for view through
a variety of search engines (yahoo, realtor.com,
homeseekers.com, etc) and on realtyadvocates.com.
On our site, Buyers can search both locally
and nationally, and we have a system where
a buyer can receive automatic e-mail updates
whenever a new listing comes up that matches
their customized search criteria. The Featured
Listing section at
realtyadvocates.com
has individual pages with descriptive text
and photos for each of our homes for sale.
We also cross-advertise; that is, use traditional
advertising media such as the S.F. Chronicle
to direct prospects to info about a particular
listing. Lastly, we use e-mail to stay in
frequent touch will all our clients and prospects.
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Absolutely. We have a lot
of first-hand construction experience, and
have supervised many projects for sellers
in getting homes ready for sale. We know many
reliable and reasonably priced tradespeople
and will make referrals as needed. But just
as important as knowing how to get things
done is knowing what is best to do, specifically
for the purpose of resale. We often find that
sellers were about to spend a lot of time
and money on projects that would have not
paid off in a sale. Talk to us first!
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Because the presentation
of a house is key in generating interest,
and of course, the highest price, homes often
benefit from staging and we have excellent
consultants in this area. In many cases, however,
simply removing some clutter and rearranging
some furniture (with our help) can do the
trick. Just as with home improvements, the
thousands of dollars one can spend on staging
must ultimately reflected in a higher sales
price, so we judge each house on a case-by-case
basis.
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Our office is located in
north Oakland, on the border between the Rockridge
and Elmwood neighborhoods. But in the 20+
years we’ve been open, we’ve had
great success selling homes as far north as
Richmond and as far south as San Leandro.
Broker Hal Feiger was born and raised in Berkeley,
and Brett has been here since 1979. If we
specialize in anything in particular, it is
in homes and neighborhoods in which we know
from long experience to be good places to
live, places that we can wholeheartedly endorse,
places that we would recommend to friends
and family.
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Traditional real estate
brokerage is pretty entrenched, and very conservative.
It is also very slow moving. But the Internet
has really shaken things up, and changes are
starting to appear. Large national chains
are even starting to tinker with the traditional
model (Coldwell Banker is test marketing a
limited fee-for-service program in one city),
and there have been several Internet start-ups
taking a stab at discount brokerage. We expect
that the rate of change within the industry
will increase, bringing new choices to consumers.
But whereas the traditional industry is seeking
to jump on the bandwagon, Realty Advocates
is proud of its small role in providing an
alternative model, thriving since 1986.
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Ah, the most perplexing
question for us, but one which probably has
several answers. First, we think many sellers
don’t realize that commissions are not
fixed. The big real estate companies spend
a lot of effort training their agents to focus
on the service-side of their pitch and not
on their fees. To support their rigid pricing
structure, many agents will argue that if
you pay less, you will get less. Its all a
smokescreen, of course. There is no shortage
of unhappy sellers who paid 6%. Loyalty is
another reason, as sellers will often return
to the agents who helped them buy their house
initially. And although we certainly cherish
the same long-term relationship with our former
clients, we continue to work towards having
sellers take a closer look at a comparable
service that will cost them thousands of dollars
less. Finally, we are a small company that
chooses to grow slowly, one satisfied client
at a time.
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Yes. Pursuant to environmental
concerns, both men traded their gas-hogging
luxury sedans for the Toyota Prius, and Dalia
drives the Honda Civic Hybrid. These cars
get 45+miles per gallon around town, and emit
far less pollutants than other cars. In both
our business and personal philosophies , we
strive to be "part of the solution,"
not the problem.
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