Revisiting referrals and rebranding

Re: 'Rebranding Real Estate' (June 10)

Dear Editor:

My first reaction to this article was that a lot of us miss a great opportunity to help our clients and sphere of influence by not letting them know that we can save them a lot of time and problems by interviewing agents for them virtually anywhere.

Think about it: These are people we know and have done business with or grown up with or worked with in the past. We know their styles, temperament and what their expectations are in a real estate professional. Does anybody enjoy the process of interviewing agents who will represent you in a sale or purchase? I don't think so.

All of us have access to various referral networks, through designations we have earned or simply through our state or national associations. We need to let the people we care about know that we can help them through the process wherever they are.

But then, her article went on to an area I am most passionate about: company branding. The truth is that in 25 years in this business I have never heard of any seller calling "XYZ Realty" and saying, "I want to do business with your company, just send over any old agent to list my house." This business is done by the connection between the agent and the client.

Many clients don't go about hiring an agent in a professional way, or use good criteria for making a decision, because -- as stated above -- no one I know enjoys the process. In the past, some of the big brand names had an advantage because of the budgets required for print-media advertising. That is no longer the case.

Newspapers are going out of business and a big part of the cause is the reduction in all advertising, including real estate advertising. Why? Because we can all advertise for free or close to it on the Internet. The big brands, with their Web sites available to the public, display all of the listings in the multiple listing service -- including those of every little one-person brokerage -- because they all get their feeds from Realtor.com, which is the most-hit real estate search site. All the non-real estate brokerage Web sites also get their feeds from Realtor.com.

So now the consumer must really look at the agent-broker they will be working with and what they will be doing for them in the transaction. I continue to be amazed at how much emphasis is put on marketing in these presentations. It is important, but because of the Internet and public MLS access it has become less so.

What is important is your agent's negotiating skills, their ability to understand human nature, and knowledge of how to craft an offer that is much more than the price but that gives the other side as many things as you can that are not important to you while gaining those items you find important which are not critical to the other side -- the famed win-win situation.

It is about finding an agent who sets realistic time frames and conditions that can be met as agreed, and who follows these through the escrow to a smooth close and transfer of title. These are skills not enjoyed by that many out there. Anybody can buy a camera and a copy of Photoshop.

Allan Bernardi
CEO, broker
Dolphin Real Estate
San Mateo, Calif.

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