Ever considered all the different hats that a real estate agent has to wear for any given collaboration with a property buyer or seller?
This person in whom you are placing your faith regarding your property goals does far more than place a sign in the yard and give you warnings that you need to vacate your home for a few hours while they show your home.
Once you see the daily functions your realtor needs to perform, you might wonder if they could use a clone. Or a team.
What Are Some of the Duties of a Realtor?
A realtor certainly does the marketing and knows how to show your home in the best light when you are trying to make a sale, but they do so much more, according to Kaplan Real Estate Education, including:
- Monitoring regional real estate marketing activity and industry news
- Completes and submits and files all the paperwork involved with the sale or purchase of a home, including agreements, closing papers, and copies of deeds and other documents.
- Develops marketing plans that involve fliers, newsletters, post cards and other promotional materials.
- Plans open house events and arranges showings upon request.
With those responsibilities and many others, it makes sense to wonder how one person can perform so many functions so efficiently and effectively.
The Idea of Real Estate Teams Is Not New
Back in the 1990s, per Forbes, fierce competition led to some innovations in the real estate industry. And one of those innovations was the idea of creating a team framework, built with the idea of fostering camaraderie — rather than any sense of competition among the realtors within the company — to better serve the clients while keeping their own agency ahead of the pack.
In today’s marketplace, home buyers and sellers should explore both options: realtor teams and individual agents.
What Clients Should Look For in a Real Estate Team Model
When you find a real estate agency that features a realtor team that works in tandem and with an attitude of collaboration, you will know you have struck gold.
Ideally, realty companies that offer the team model will foster a cooperative dynamic and build teams that feature all the critical components within each team member.
These agencies might break their team down by assigning a marketing professional, a sales specialist who has a gift for showing homes and working directly with you, and an administrative expert to attend to mountains of paperwork and assist with daily client correspondence and communications.
When these teams work well, they offer fantastic benefits to the client since their team can stay focused on their specific tasks as they pertain to each individual client.
The only drawback happens when teams do not work with common goals in mind, or if they lack communication skills among themselves.
You should make sure the agency’s teams have a proven track record before committing to this real estate model.
What Clients Should Look For in an Individual Real Estate Agent
This traditional real estate agent model offers you a more personal relationship with your realtor, which tends to offer a sense of comfort with the familiarity that develops between you and your real estate broker.
With this model, you always know who you need to talk to if you have a question, instead of what often happens with a team model: you call struggle to remember who works on marketing and who actually shows the home.
The drawbacks of the individual model are a matter of trying to keep each client’s matters in order.
If an agent has several clients, they can easily feel overwhelmed and stressed out, which sometimes negatively impacts the client through slower responses or a lack of enthusiasm to market the home.
You should look for a solo agent with an upbeat personality and who is candid about their client load, making sure that you are as much of a priority as any other clients.
Which Approach Will Work Best for You?
As with any part of the real estate buying and selling process, choosing a team or solo real estate agent model depends on what makes you feel most comfortable once you explore both options.
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