If you’ve had your ear to the ground in the Orlando Real Estate industry, you’d know that real estate “teams” are on the rise. All of a sudden real estate teams are being created it would seem almost daily and usually range from just a few agents that have joined forces to teams of 40-50 agents recruited to form a team.
Most of the time these real estate teams are formed to bring in more sales to the Real Estate Brokerage. I believe that inflating sales numbers is the wrong reason to put together a team. However, if the team was formed to provide better customer service then I’m all for it.
If you plan on buying or selling a home in Orlando FL, you must understand who you are hiring to help you through the process. Whether you are interviewing a Realtor to sell a home or help you find your dream home, it’s important that you know whether this Realtor is a one-man [or woman] show or if they work with a team.
Like anything else in life, there are pros and cons to both sides of the coin. In this article, we’re going to talk about both the benefits as well as the drawbacks of both. you have to have a strong understanding of the pros and cons of both to make an educated decision.
So What’s a single Agent Vs a team of Agents?
Before I start discussing the pros and cons of working with a team versus a single agent, let’s talk about the difference between the both of them.
Single Real Estate Agent
A single real estate agent is just what it sounds like… It’s a Realtor who works with a seller or buyer directly from beginning to end and does everything in between.
This is the kind of real estate agent that you will see on the initial consult, provide you a CMA, take photos, inspections, and throughout the rest of the process of selling your home.
Successful single agents usually use some type of CRM, aka customer relationship management, which helps them stay organized by setting up appointments and alerts for important deadlines like inspection periods, etc.
Real Estate Agent Teams
A real estate agent team can have a lot of different people involved and can often get pretty complex with hundreds of moving parts. It can be made up of just a few single agents or several dozen agents complete with administrative staff. Many times real estate agent teams are broken down into different departments consisting of buyers agents, listing agents, transaction coordinators, admin assistants, and of course a marketing dept.
Not all teams are created equally
If you hire a team of agents to buy or sell a home, what to expect will depend a lot on how that team is being run. You should have a deep understanding of how a team works before committing to them.
Here’s an example… If you’re buying a home in Orlando, the last thing that you want to have to happen is to find out that the agent who gave you the listing presentation and the agent you’ll be working with are 2 different people. Then once you get a house under contract or receive an offer on your house, you might be working with yet another agent…
The Pros of Hiring A Single Real Estate Agent
Building a relationship…
Selling or buying a home can easily be one of the most important events in someone’s life. There is a lot of stress involved and it’s very emotional, especially if it’s someone’s first time. A crucial part of a successful real estate transaction is that you…the buyer or seller…are comfortable with the person or persons you’ve hired to represent you.
Probably one of the biggest advantages of hiring a single agent is the opportunity to build a relationship with a single person that will stay with you until the end. Buying or selling a home sometimes involves openly discussing your financials. That’s why you need to be able to trust your Realtor and feel comfortable talking about these things with them.
Single Agents are responsible and accountable for everything that happens. When you decide to hire a single agent to help sell or buy a home, that agent will be fully responsible for the entire transaction. There is no “passing the buck” for this type of agent, they are fully aware that their job moving forward is to protect your best interests.
The Cons of Hiring A Single Real Estate Agent
Limited availability- A Realtor who works by themselves can’t be in 2 places at one time. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of hiring a single agent to buy or sell a home.
Here’s an example… Let’s say you’re a buyer and a new listing, which is perfect for you, hits the market. You’re going to want to see that home ASAP, especially if it’s a hot market. If you’re working with a single agent and they are already booked for that day with another client, then you could potentially lose that deal because you didn’t go see it on time.
A good way to try and avoid running into this sort of problem with a single agent is to find out how many clients they are currently working with. A successful Realtor who works alone should be able to handle 10 – 15 clients at once with the proper systems in place.
The Pros of Hiring A Real Estate Team of Agents
Several Realtors for the price of one
Probably the single biggest advantage of hiring a real estate team as opposed to a single agent is that it costs no extra money having access to several people instead of one. You can potentially have a listing specialist, buyers agent, closing coordinator as well as a marketing specialist depending on the makeup of the team.
Assignments or tasks are delegated
Since teams will usually have various systems in place, certain tasks will be assigned to different agents. In this scenario, everyone should be a specialist at what they do.
The Cons of Hiring A Real Estate Team
Communication breakdown
Like the old saying goes “too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup”. Probably the biggest disadvantage you may face with working with a team of real estate agents is failure to communicate. Sometimes having too many departments increases the chances of someone dropping the ball.
There are so many moving parts throughout the home selling or buying process that good communication is crucial. A failure to communicate can cause a deal to fall apart from one day to the next.
Team leader goes MIA
Some real estate teams in Orlando have a bad reputation is because it’s extremely hard to reach the leader once a contract is secured. It’s hard to believe, but it does happen sometimes. This kind of team usually has a very high turnover with employees and rarely gets repeat business.
How Do You Decide Whether To Hire A Team Or Single Realtor?
This is an important decision and should not be taken lightly. Hiring the wrong Realtor for the job can turn your home selling or buying experience into a disastrous event. Here are some tips that will hopefully help you decide which situation suits you better.
At the end of the day… you hired an agent, not a company
Realtors that are all part of the same team will have different levels of experience as well as work ethics in all areas of real estate. When it’s time to decide whether you want to work with an agent or a team just think about what suits you better. If you’re the kind of person who wants to deal with the same person who sold you a particular service or product from beginning to end then you’re probably better off finding a great listing specialist or buyers agent that works alone.
If you do decide on hiring a team instead of a single agent, make sure you are aware of how their process works. Who will be your next point of contact? Who will be in charge of marketing? Who will be in charge of negotiations? etc…
Closing Thoughts
When you’re involved in a real estate transaction either as a buyer or seller you need to realize that the Realtor that you hire can be the difference between a good experience and an awful one.
