A boutique real estate firm is a small office staffed with well-vetted professionals. Boutiques offer superior customer service and specialized marketing for a small number of clients. The hallmark of the boutique firm is a focus on quality over quantity. Agents appreciate a work environment that measures success by happy customers rather than aggressive franchise-imposed sales goals. Customers feel confident that their account is receiving the greatest possible attention and focus.
Why should Sellers use a Boutique Firm?
Today’s real estate consumer has the opportunity to educate herself about homes for sale, the market, mortgage rates, and more without ever interacting with a salesperson. This buyer will likely view your home online many times before gathering the conviction to pick up the phone. This means that your listing must have the power to capture attention online with alluring, deliberate descriptions and plentiful, well-composed photographs. Buyers relocating from out of the area will want community information that will paint a picture of the lifestyle your home might offer them. A boutique firm does not subscribe to one-size-fits all advertising – we can and do fit the marketing to the home and seek out your buyer creatively. Most importantly, when the buyer finally decides to make that very important phone call – who will answer? Will it be one of 150 agents, not all of whom are full-time professionals, who might just read back the online description your buyer by now has memorized? Will it be the listing agent herself, a person today’s savvy buyer knows is representing the seller’s best interests, not the buyer’s? In our boutique, the friendly and encouraging voice on the other end of that call will belong to one of a small group of dedicated local professional Realtors who have each toured the home personally and know the community well enough to add to the buyer’s knowledge of and interest in your property!
Why should Buyers use a Boutique Firm?
Inventory and interest rates are low which means that competition for homes in hot areas is high. The right house might be listed on a Thursday morning and sold before the weekend. Because our agency is streamlined and specialized we can dedicate time at a weekly meeting to share local news and gossip with regard to potential upcoming listings. We also have the time to learn more about what one another’s buyers might be looking for. Although we are independent contractors our working relationships with one another are strong and it is a joy to share or receive information that might help a client of the firm. We know that helping each other exceed our clients’ expectations makes all of us look good. When you stop by the office my colleagues will go out of their way to help you find me or get the information you need in a way a larger firm could never duplicate. Our broker-owner’s father started the firm in 1959 and Dave grew up immersed in real estate. When one very experienced broker is shared by only eight agents you can rest assured that your transaction will get hands-on attention immediately if we have a complicated question or concern. In all we are uniquely equipped to help you find the house that is just right for you and navigate the process of making it your own!
Common Questions about Boutique Firms:
Do you charge a higher commission than other firms?
No Association of Realtors may set a “standard commission” but you will find that our fee is competitive with other full-service agencies.
Do you only sell luxury homes?
Absolutely not. We are proud to offer high-end services to all our clients no matter their price point.
Do you only work in Swarthmore?
The agents in our firm are licensed to work in the state of Pennsylvania and we specialize in Delaware, Chester and Montgomery county real estate. We do NOT work only in Swarthmore!
If I list with your company, will my house have the same exposure as it would with other firms? What about “relo buyers” other firms talk about?
Yes, you will have equal exposure nationally and you will have more exposure locally! If you list with our firm your home will appear on the MLS (multiple listing service) used by all local firms. Information about your home will be drawn from there onto other firms’ websites (as their listings appear on ours) and onto Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, Better Homes and Gardens’s website, and all the other MLS based sites used by buyers. The relocating buyers from other agencies will know about your home too and may be especially drawn to your listing because of the introductory community information we offer along with house details in our specialized marketing. A buyer agent’s fiduciary responsibility requires her to show any properties that her client might be interested in – not just those listed by her own firm. In other words, with us you can benefit from the same market exposure the big franchises offer AND take advantage of our local knowledge and specialized marketing plans.
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