Why Pick Us?
 

On our "Choosing" page, we suggested that you interview agents, check out their material, and ask lots of questions in order to find someone who is good, hard-working, honest, flexible, client-focused and trustworthy.  We would love you to call us and ask us all your questions face-to-face.

But here are some good questions that people ask, some they shouldn't ask, and some they don't ask but ought to:

  • Are you #1?  The top producer? etc.   Nope.  We are consistently among the top 5-10% of agents in terms of production.  But we'll rarely be at the very top of the "volume" list.  That is largely the domain of large teams, or "mini-brokerages" these days.  We do well.  The answer to the question you should be asking:  We are Big Enough to provide exceptional marketing services.  But we are Small Enough to provide exceptional, creative, individual, personal service.

 

  • What is your average sale-to-listing price ratio and your average "days-on-market" before your listings sell?      As good as anyone else's, but in today's markets these are completely meaningless statistics.  We can show you why.

 

  • Are you client-focused?  Oh yes, indeed.  We want happy clients and we believe the "deals" (i.e. our income) will follow.  Here is our Mission Statement. which lays it out.  Click Here for a page about our view of two basic ways of being a real estate professional, and why we chose the second path.

 

  • Do you have a big team?  We are a team of two.  No assistants, sub-agents, buyer agents, admin people, etc.  And we limit the number of active clients we have at any one time so that we can provide individual, personal and complete service.  If you didn't read it already, Click Here for a page about our view of two basic ways of being a real estate professional, and why we chose the second path.

 

  • Do you have testimonials?  Yes, but we have even better stuff, too.  We don't ask for testimonials.  We don't ask for them -- any agent can come up with a few happy clients.  But we do ask EVERY client to complete a "performance review" -- a survey of a set of standardized performance questions.  By sharing the results of this ongoing survey with new clients, we believe you can be confident of our ability and client-centered approach.  We would also be happy to provide references. [Here are the results by the numbers]    [Here are some of the comments] [OK, OK there are some sort-of-like-testimonials here]

 

  • What kind of car do you drive?   There was a time when agents typically took clients to many appointments.  We're not sure why but now most prefer to meet at the appointment location.  So the car matters less, practically (size, comfort, etc.).  But "practical" was never the issue.  For some reason, for a while, agents were judged by some by the luxuriousness of their car, clothing etc.  We would like to think that is no longer the case.  We have two comfy cars ... they're not too fancy and they are getting a bit old but they are good cars and we own them.  We try to dress professionally or appropriate to the setting, but we are not clothes horses.

 

  • Do you have a unique marketing system?    Yes and no.  There are no "magic" systems.  All agents with good broker-backing and a modicum of experience have access to all the available and necessary marketing tools.  A "system" implies running all homes through the same sausage machine.  We believe  that each situation needs to be examined on its own merits, and that the real trick is not what you CAN do or what you PROMISE to do, but what you ACTUALLY do. So, "yes" we have a systematic approach to each situation, but it is an approach that identifies the unique needs of each client and develops a marketing plan based on those needs.

 

  • Do you advertise?    Yes.  All agents have two things to advertise -- their clients' listed properties or needs, and themselves.  We WANT to advertise our clients' listings.  Our self-promotion then largely takes care of itself within the main focus of the ad.  But we also have to keep our own name "top of mind", whether publicly or with our contacts.  We will ALWAYS advertise all of our listings consistently in all the appropriate places -- internet, local , city and national papers,  local flyers, etc.  We try to keep over 80% of our self-promotion useful and informative by providing tips, news, art, etc.  We do this even though straight-out flashy "it's all about me" advertising is easier, cheaper, and works.  Sigh!

 

  • Do you have a PowerPoint laptop presentation?  We did have and it is currently being updated.  But we don't use it much.  We prefer to keep the "dog and pony show" short.  We're working on this website to make it uniquely ours and to have answers to many of the basic questions.  What we really want to do is spend time with you talking about your needs and  analysing your situation. In that way, you get the information you need, and we get to know each other and decide if we will work well together. 

 

  

 

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May/2009: Soon there will be pretty pictures here so you won't notice how text-heavy this page/site is! (Sorry, but we're trying to give you lots of information)