Brokers Discuss the Modern Meaning of ‘Full-Service’

By Jordan Grice

Being a “full-service brokerage” has always meant providing a one-stop shop for clients, but leading brokers say it takes a bit more than that to warrant the distinction in today’s market.

“I think today the full-service concept is twofold: what we do for the consumers and the agents,” says Joan Docktor, president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, REALTORS®. “When you talk about full-service today, the agents are the customers too, so you need full service for your agents as well.”

Though the approach varies among brokerage firms, offering a full range of tools and services geared toward supporting agent growth and streamlining the transaction process has become a core component of most business models in real estate.

For Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, REALTORS® , Docktor hires full-time sales managers and administrative staff devoted to assisting agents with their business development and transaction processes.

According to Docktor, the firm also offers ongoing training and support for agents of all experience levels.

“The agent needs to focus on selling houses,” Docktor says. “What’s unique about a brokerage like ours is we have the deep knowledge and brokerage experience to support our agents, where a newer company may not.” Proprietary Products Ancillary services have gone from perk to necessity for most business models. Still, a growing reliance on tech platforms and tools has also become a new normal for full-service broker offerings.

“If brokerages want to survive in an industry where they are no longer just competing on services, but also with lower brokerage splits and an overall decline in agent commissions, they have to get creative,” says Josh Harley, founder and CEO of Fathom Realty.

Offering agent websites, transaction management, financial management, personnel management, business intelligence, data aggregation and more with the help of tech has become common practice for companies looking to revamp their brands and attract top talent.

While Fathom and other traditional firms own the technology suite they are offering to agents, Harley notes a growing trend of companies establishing joint ventures with other companies to provide these ancillary services and offerings.

“That’s why we can charge our

agents no monthly fees and only a small flat transaction fee and yet hit profitability faster than any of our publicly traded competitors,” Harley says, adding that joint ventures make it tough to control the quality of services.

Ryan Raveis, co-president of William Raveis Real Estate (WRRE), shares similar sentiments.

“We’ve always believed that our primary responsibility is to serve the needs of our agents and our consumers, and the bottom line is virtually every homebuyer or seller will need at least one of these services,” Raveis says. “Being a full-service brokerage, however, doesn’t mean simply bolting one of the ancillary businesses onto your real estate brokerage.”

Instead, the company owns and operates its ancillary service companies to streamline the transaction for consumers. Raveis also notes that they’ve used technology to automate the marketing process for agents with the company’s Raveis Automated Marketing Platform (RAMP).

“We [also] utilize the tech development power of thousands of talented professionals by developing deep partnerships with the best tech vendors inside and outside the real estate industry,” Raveis says.

A Personal Touch While technology has become more of a requirement in real estate, regional firms contend that their advantage is leveraging their relationships.

“The only technology we’re interested in is what our agents can adopt and what benefits the customer,” says John Cates, COO at Meybohm Real Estate in Augusta, Georgia.

Despite a recent rebrand of their company website and CRM, Cates notes that relying on Meybohm’s wealth of expertise and human capital is still a focal point of their full-service gameplan for clients and agents.

The same goes for Portside Real Estate Group, according to Founder and CEO Dava Davin. Full service also means supporting agents with programs and opportunities in-house for the Maine-based company, so they don’t use up their time and resources.

“For us, it’s striving to help the agents build a career that lasts for decades, and with that, we need to help them achieve harmony in their life because the lifecycle of a highproducing agent is usually 10 years,” Davin says. “Here, we want people to be able to do this forever.”

Despite debates and personal preferences, the quality of consumer services continues to be an impetus for evolution in real estate. While tech and agent perks are essential to emerging and established business models, the future of the full-service brokerage could very well be in for further changes in the coming years.

RE

Jordan Grice is RISMedia’s associate online editor. Email him your real estate news to jgrice@rismedia.com.

A SEARCH BAR CAN’T NAVIGATE MULTIPLE OFFERS. REALTORS® CAN.