Charleston Real Estate Blog

Your opinion is interesting when you state, "how long can you stay in business when you don't charge enough to cover the cost of providing service. And when all is said and done, in general, you get what you pay for."  This statement applies to any business!!!!  This statement is misleading.  The reality is that "Help-U-Sell" corporate is simply the franchise owners and they are not the heart and soul of the business; it is the franchisee owners - brokers who operate the real estate brokerages.  This does not mean the offices located throughout the U.S. are going away - they will survive and remain one of your toughest competitors.

I know in our area, Northern Virginia, Help-U-Sell brokerages are thriving and making money.  Yes, we charge a low set fee and provide "full service", in fact we offer more services than our commission based competitors.  Yes, we do charge less and despite your blog, we do make more than enough money to cover our expenses and have a nice profit (albeit not the profit a traditional brokerage might when charging 3 to 4 times as much), even though we typically have to do three times the number of sales to make a similar amount revenue that a traditional listing broker would do when they list and sale only one listing; we just list more homes to make of the difference:) That is fine, since we use state of the art technology and marketing to keep the overhead low. By providing equivalent or better services for less money than the competition and using technology to lower our costs, we do not need to charge three or four times what a traditional broker has too to put money in the bank.  This is as you stated the seller's money and it really should go in their bank; not the broker's bank.

In addition, your statement makes a comment about "you get what you pay for"; this is true on both sides of the street.  A seller can get a lousy listing agent from tradional real estate as well as from Help-U-Sell, etc.  It depends on the character, ethics, and quality of the broker to provide a seller with a highly trained, competent, ethical, ... trustworthy agent who will provide the level of services "promised" when hired.  If they do that and price the home competitively they will get the home sold and the seller's  will "NET" the highest possible amount of money in the shortest amount of time. It does not matter which company, it really depends on the quality of the agent/broker and the services being provided.  If they can get all of this with a set fee brokerage or traditioanl company, then they should select the one who will get the job done and will "NET" them the most money at closing; this is business decision.

A veteran broker or agent knows that a seller must do their job during the interview process to select the best qualified company and there are many items that need to be addressed to pick the "best" qualified brokerage.  A listing company should provide them with this information and guarantee to do the job or not get paid!!  If a seller does not do their job during the interview process it is possible for them to hire an incompetent agent/broker from any company - tradtional or set/flat fee - regardless of how much they pay the brokerage to sell the home.  

The only part of your blog I tend to agree with is that HUS corporate is in an involuntary Chap 11 bankruptcy and is restructing its debt.  Whether or not they emerge from it, is hard to say, but I will state without hesitation that the set fee full service model works for the seller's and is profitable from a broker's point of view.  In addition, it offers the seller's multiple options, whereby the traditional model is very limited.  In reality, the seller can can pay high commissions or they can pay a low set fee for "full service" - it is their choice and is not matter of a companies name - all companies can be good or bad. It also creates competition, which is always a good thing.  

In closing, let me say times are tough for both traditional and set/flat fee companies and for seller's.  Our economy is suffering as a result and I pray that we all survive the housing collapse.

Best regard,

Dan

I think that there may be a confusion with our services and how we get paid.  I too am a broker for Help-U-Sell.  Each office is independantly owned so we may see differences from each office.  My office and all of the offices that I work with do not charge anything unless the home is sold.  We consistantly provide services that meet or exceed our competitors.  MLS, Virtual Tour, brochures, signs and advertising on all real estate websites including the enhanced Realtor.com.  Our average market time is less than the average in the area and I actually provide staging tips and some furniture to boot.  I have several friends in the industry and i can assure you my services exceeds theirs.  We are able to charge less because with the internet the marketing is less expensive.  The traditional realtors fee's have not changed with the reduction in our costs to market.  Yes we do need to sell more homes to make the same amount.  If I were getting a surgery I think I would pick a doctor that has done more surgerys than the one that just charges more because they don't do as many.

I used Help-U-Sell to sell several properties in 2004-2005 in the Los Aneles area. The properties were both single homes as well as small apartments buildings( 6 units or less ). The properties were sold at appraised values or more( the values were determined by a separate indendent company). All of the sales were completed in a timely manner. The agent provided all of the necessary services needed. All I had to do was review the paper work and sign were needed. The bottom line, the reduced fees were not reflected in the professional services that I received. The combination of saving several thousands of dollars in agent fees and still having professtional service made Help-U-Sell was a WIN WIN for me.