David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

The release of this study was timed perfectly to dovetail with my last blog post, franchises versus independents. This study meaures customer satisfaction of only the largest national franchises.  What is interesting is that the most influential component of home buyer satisfaction in this study is satisfaction with the real estate agent/salesperson.  Among home seller, agent/salesperson and marketing factors declined.  The study cites that many real estate companies have made cutbacks in additional services and offices during recent years. This study directly supports my position that the key to a successful transaction for buyers or sellers is not necessarily connected to a large franchise, but through the choice of a competent agent who can skillfully manage the details in today's market to a successful close and sale. Read more about the study:  http://bit.ly/odRvXL

As you may know from previous posts, I am very skeptical about the value of NAR membership.  In the July issue of Realtor Magazine, they performed an analysis of Realtors from the May 2010 Membership Profile.  The NAR position is that franchise brands, such as Re/Max and Century 21, have branding power, and therefore a marketing edge over independent brokers and offices.  They also noted that in November of 2010, NAR proposed a change to MLS policy which would let franchise offices tie their MLS feeds together into a national MLS listing service.  Of course, NAR didn't anticipate that independent real estate companies would see this as favoritism. NAR leads us to believe that most Realtors belong to franchises, but the reality is that, in their own article 54% of Realtor members reported they worked for a franchise.  Hardly a landslide. The fact is, also supported by this article, that national franchises are losing offices and members due to high fees and low return on investm