Transparency In Our Fees and Services

What sets RE/MAX Real Estate Center agents apart?

Their professionalism and willingness to engage with our clients in a transparent discussion of our services and fee structure. For a detailed explanation of what this means, please read the following message from Eirik Olsen, the Broker/Owner of our office.

A message to our clients and the real estate industry from:
Eirik Olsen
Broker | Owner | Attorney | MBA
RE/MAX Real Estate Center

It is an exciting time in the Puget Sound real estate market. While the market has certainly presented its challenges, there is also opportunity, optimism and the unequivocal belief that real estate is a sound investment, now and into the future.

One benefit of a slower market is that we, as an industry, have been provided a tremendous window of opportunity to engage with our clients in a discussion of our value proposition. Real estate agents and brokers have made the point over the years that we should be looked upon as professionals, in the same strata as the architects, engineers, CPA’s and lawyers of the world. Those of us in the industry know the significant value of the services we provide, but our clients, for the most part, do not. To reassert our stature as a profession, we must commit ourselves to aggressively promoting those things we do as Realtors that are distinctive, valuable and truly define us as professionals. By promoting our professionalism in this manner we not only increase the awareness of what we do for our clients, but also, more importantly, increase the level of service to the client.

While there are many things we can do as an industry to educate the public as to our professionalism, I have isolated three which I feel will provide the greatest benefit in the shortest amount of time.

1. Arm the public with information about those things we do as real estate professionals that uniquely identify us as experts in our field. These “core competencies” include such skills as “project management”, home pricing analysis and consultation, negotiation, real estate contract expertise, listing best practices and general and specific market knowledge. It is these skills that define our value proposition and correlate most directly with the commissions we earn. Click here for a list of our “core” and “non-core” services.

2. Acknowledge every situation is different.Despite the fact that almost every real estate engagement is different, we as an industry have routinely employed the same practices, in terms of services and fee structure. The only beneficiary of this is the less than professional agent who is able to compete simply by copying the standard formula. This has decreased the overall level of service to our clients and led to a tremendous amount of wasted money and time. By eliminating (or at least questioning) those resources we expend that do not, in a given situation, have a direct and strong correlation to the sale of a home, we increase the level of service to our clients and further our reputation as professionals. We must look at each “engagement” as unique, have the courage to employ only those strategies which have a business justification, and continue to distinguish ourselves via our core competencies.

3. Be open to discussing our commission. The fact is there are very few agents who have an absolute rule against discussing their “standard” fee, whatever that standard fee is. It simply makes good business sense to acknowledge the circumstances of the situation may affect what amount is charged. “Negotiable”, in the real estate industry, has become synonymous with cheap or unprofessional. It shouldn’t be. Negotiation, or discussion, of fees takes place in every professional industry and we should learn to embrace the opportunity to engage with our clients just as the engineers, architects and lawyers of the world have. At RE/MAX Real Estate Center you will not necessarily find our fees to be inexpensive; you will, however, walk away from your experience with us feeling that what you paid was fair given the circumstances, whether that commission is 6%, 5%, 7% or some other negotiated amount.

RE/MAX Real Estate Center Invites Our Clients to Ask Questions

We at RE/MAX Real Estate Center look forward to engaging with our current and future clients in a transparent discussion of our services and fee structure. We firmly believe real estate can be a win-win proposition for all parties, and that the only way to get there is by full and open communication that leads to true agreement between all involved.