Debate: Will small get bigger

Debate: Will small get bigger in real estate? Many large real estate franchise companies have spent years building world-class brokerage brands through television advertising and traditional brand marketing campaigns. And it paid off. Realogy (formerly Cendant) brands alone (Coldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA, Sotheby's) touch somewhere around one in four real estate transactions. An Inman News reader now asks: "In a falling housing market, has size become a competitive disadvantage, particularly for those mega-firms that try to serve both buyers and sellers (i.e., practice dual agency?)"

Bill Wendel, from the Real Estate Cafe, starts off the discussion by saying:

"Size was arguably an advantage in overheated housing markets where there was fierce competition for scarce listings. Now that larger, well-known names area overloaded with inventory in falling housing markets, price-conscious home buyers are hiring exclusive buyer agents because they know dual agents can't negotiate aggressively on in-house sales. That's why Seth Godin's mantra, 'Small is the New Big,' is a rallying cry for exclusive buyer agents and the home buyers they serve."

The other side of this, though, could argue that buyers are more aggressively using information available to them on the Internet and therefore don't need the services of a buyer agent as much.

What do you think?

--Jessica Swesey, Inman News

Labels: brands, brokerage size, dual agency

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