“The Earl of Real Estate Team is a marketing and customer service company that just happens to focus on The Northern Virgina Real Estate Market. We don’t sell real estate and the reality is we can’t sell real estate, only homes and condos sell homes and condos. We are hired, whether its by Northern Virginia buyer or sellers, to expose properties and showcase their merits, celebrate the lifestyle they represents, and facilitate the transaction. We do this by constantly Educating buyers and seller, all with the right Attitude, with a professional level of Readiness for what the market presents, surrounded by a spirit of Love.” – Robert Earl
The Earl of Real Estate Team was founded in 2001 by Robert Earl and is now owned and operated by Robert & Debra Earl.
Why a team? Because in this day in age and with the amount of customer service and technology that is invlolved in a real estate transaction, one – individual agent – can not do all of the task and services that are required to be successful.
In our now 10 plus years of service to the Northern Virginia Real Estate Market place, one thing has remained true to our approach, there is a way to be successful when buying or selling a home and it is our job as your consultant to advise you and show the the ways to be successful. Many times, this requires us to do things that just make sense, rather than just doing what you heard should be done.
We found out early on in our career in real estate, that you do not need us to “SELL” you a home. You don’t need us to sell you anything. What you do need is a team is involved in buying and selling real estate more than just once in a while. A team that is up to date on the latest market trends, the technology and the latest rules and regulations, with a foundation of plain old common sense.
There are some reasons that we state this. Reasons that many consumers are not aware of.
Here are just a few of the “traditional” practices that cause us to treat buyers and sellers the right way.
Who is actually selecting the homes that you plan on seeing – the agent or you?
In real estate, the wrong person usually picks the properties for buyers to see and purchase. The agent acts as an all knowing property picker, going through the list of available properties, picking out the ones that THEY think are the best for the shopper. This outdated practice has its origins in the way that the property listings used to be distributed. Back in the day, each Brokerage office subscribed to the MLS book. This book was delivered to the office every other week or in some areas monthly. There was one physical book per office. The broker in the office would allow the agents to see the book one by one. Each agent had a limited amount of time with the book, and would scan it for any new listings that met the criteria of the buyers that they were working for and those properties that were the easiest to actually show and the listings that paid the agent the most amount of money. As you read this, stop and think, were is the consumer in all of this. They didn’t get to select, they were told what was available. Technology progress allowed for agent to make zerox copies for clients. In the late 1980′s to late 1990′s this process improved slightly as each office had a computer that was able to access the listing information, but the gatekeeper to the listings still remained the agent, not the consumer.
It might surprise you to know that many agents still operate in this model as the gatekeeper. Selecting properties based upon the limited criteria they gather from the potential buyer along with their own preferences of which properties are the easiest to schedule showings for, those that are listed with agents they like and those that offer the best agent compensation or bonuses.
HOW THE EARL OF REAL ESTATE TEAM DIFFERS AND HOW WE OPERATE:
We are not the gatekeeper. Technology has far surpassed the outdated listing distribution model of the past. The fact that you are at this site and reading this it a testiment to the power of the internet and it usage in the real estate market place. It is our policy to make EVERY SINGLE ACTIVE PROPERTY available to you – online with no filters. When we set up a search for you as a VIP buyer we include every single property that meets YOUR specified criteria, not ours. We do not filter based upon the other agent or company, how much it offers as compensation or any of the other details. We can tell this is a radical approach to a number of buyers because they still think that we are hiding listings from them or have pocket listings that we are telling others about but not them. THE EARL OF REAL ESTATE TEAM DOES NOT HIDE LISTINGS. If the listings is active and avaialble in the multiple listings system and the seller has chosen to participate in the IDX exhange, you will see it on this site.
This allows the right person or people to be making the decisions about properties…YOU!!! Are we available to help and share our experience regarding the neighborhoods and lifestyles that the Northern Virginia area has to offer? YES. We have a number of buyers that we work with that use other sites like Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, or other national company sites to do the reasearch and fact finding, only to turn to us when it comes time to actually start the process and look at homes because they understand that, to be successful, they need our support, guidance and expertise to assist them in getting what they are looking for. This creates a true Win – Win experience for all parties involved.
Would you trust a part time brain surgeon? or a part time pilot? or a part time accountant?
Then why would you every consider working with a part timer when it comes to working with you are buy or sell what may end up being the largest asset that you ever end up owning?
We all have a “friend” that happens to have a real estate license. As you are in the industry as long as we have been, you understand that the entry bar to get into the real estate business is not very high for real estate companies, brokerages or individual agents.
Did you realize that, in a recent survey, 70% of those that held a real estate license indicated that real estate sales was not their primary form of income. Translation: The are Part Time Agents. And what they may or may not know won’t end up costing them anywhere as near as much as it will end up costing YOU.
Combine this with the fact that the average agent in Northern Virginia sells 3.5 homes per year and you can see that there are alot of part time agents in the market place. (The 3.5 number is not just because the market may be slower, this number has not changed in the past 10 years, during up and down and stable markets. What happens is agents come and go, into and out of the business and the average sales remain the same.)
So, stop and think about the job that you do. If you only did it 3-4 times per year, how good would you be at your job? Not very good. That is a fact.
HOW THE EARL OF REAL ESTATE TEAM DIFFERS AND HOW WE OPERATE:
Robert Earl and Debra Earl are full time – licensed real estate professionals. We are both members of the National Association of Realtors, the Virginia Association of Realtors and the Northern Virignia Association of Realtors. In the past 10 years, The Earl of Real Estate Team has sold over 400 homes either as the buyer agent working with the buyer or as the listing agent working with the seller. That is a track record that we are proud of and put us far above the 3.5 per year level.
We would love to spend all day talking about awards and such, but we won’t because they don’t matter to YOU, so we have been told and seen in survey after survey. We want you to know that we are FULL TIME professionals that are ready to assist you accomplishing your dreams with regards to buying or selling real estate. Period.
The days of the Neighborhood Specialist are over
If you pick up a real estate homes for sale magazine or drive around the Northern Virginia are enough, you come accross the term – Neighborhood Specialist or Neighborhood Expert. This is proudly placed on the ad or on a rider sign and on the surface it looks good. But, is that really what you need as a buyer or seller? Lets stop and think about this.
As a buyer…Rarely do we see a buyer that is just looking in one specific neighborhood. They may end up liking a particular area, but, with the techology and resources of the internet today, buyers are looking in a wider and wider area. When these buyers end up with the “Neighborhood Speicalist”, they unkowningly might be locked into that area. Here is what we have found. Buyers look for areas, wide areas. They are going to be working in Washington DC and they want a reasonable commute so they are willing to consider Arlington and Alexandria but they would also not mind living on the Metro so that opens up Falls Church, Vienna, Springfield and soon Mclean and Reston. Oh by the way, they have a friend that lives in Ashburn, so they would also be willing to consider that area as well. So how does that “Neighborhood Specialist” fit in, especially if you are reading this and considering relocating to the Northern Virginia area. This is expecially true for those relocating with the Military or in support of the Armed Forces or other government contractor positions.
We know this is true because in 10 years we have had very, very, very few people that place an inquiry to our site or call us about a property or a neighborhood end up actually buying in that particular community. When they get to see everything that is available and are empowered to select, they might just find something that better meets their needs.
As a Seller…The “Neghborhood Specialist” knows your particular area, they can explain it to potential buyers and they can “sell” your house. Is that really true and is that the way it works. Probably not.
Rarely, and I mean point zero something percent of the time does the buyer of the property end up coming from the same neighborhood that the property is located in. With the internet usage, the distance that the new buyer comes from is getting further and further every year. So while your neighborhood specialist is busy marketing to the neighborhood and holding open houses for the neighbors, your potential buyer is outside of the area or outside of the state or country. They are not getting your agents just listed cards or their latest recipe card.
They are probably online, using a site like this (think about it, you found us online and are reading this…isn’t that the way that most buyers would operate.)
You see, to get the most amount of money for the sale of your home, you need to attract the most potential buyers or potential buyers so that you find one that most willing to pay your asking price or close to it. The wider the net, the better the potential results.
HOW THE EARL OF REAL ESTATE TEAM DIFFERS AND HOW WE OPERATE:
We are proud on one fact – We have sold multiple properties in each and every city that we list under the navigation tab MLS Listings on the top of the site. We know the areas and have worked with buyers to determine what they are looking for and exposing them to the opportunities available to them all aroud the area, no matter the neighborhood or school district.
For sellers, our worldwide reach ensures that your property is getting the maximum exposure from those that matter most, potential buyers – not just neighbors.
Why do agent keep double charging home sellers and why do seller continue to allow them to do so?
It is still happening and home sellers don’t even realize it. That is, not until we tell them or they read this.
The ultimate prize for the average agent is to “Double End” a transaction. That means that they take the listing, find the buyer that doesn’t have an agent, write the contract and go to closing and collect the full commission for the listing side and the buyer agent side.
Sounds great…For the Agent. What about YOU or YOU in this case?
I am not going to go into the whole discussion of Dual agency or who is the agent really representing here on this page. Instead I am going to ask you to stop and think about it and follow the money.
Fact…to get top dollar when selling you need to have your property exposed to the largest pool of potential buyers.
Fact…the majority of home buyers are already working with or plan on working with a buyer agent, most of which are not affiliated with the same brokerage as the listing agent.
Fact…the listing agent is “Incentivized” by the potential financial arrangement to not promote the property out to other potential buyers working with agents. They are motivated to find the buyer themselves, trying to kill two birds with one stone and collect all of the bounty themselves.
(If, according to the National Association of Realtors survey of buyers and sellers, only 1 percent of buyers end up buying a house because of an open house, why do some companies promote so many open houses with so many balloons and why do so many agents hold so many open houses? When you follow the money – it starts to make sense.)
So, if the property is not fully promoted to the pool of potential buyers that really matter, and the house sits on the market longer than average, what question do you think potential buyers start asking about your property? You got it. “What is wrong with the property?” and then they say “It must be overpriced!”.
And you know good and well that there is nothing wrong with your house.
So while the agent was trying to get the grande “double shot” of commission, you have to drop your price and it end up costing you in a Venti manner.
HOW THE EARL OF REAL ESTATE TEAM DIFFERS AND HOW WE OPERATE:
We will never double charge you to sell your home. PERIOD!
We have a program called The Noble Listings System. Some sellers that we have worked with have also called it the No Bull Listing System because it is so straight forward and there is no question who we are working for and on behalf of. Here is more information on Hassle Free – The Selling System.
If we find the buyer and there is no other agent involved, your total commission charge as a seller is 4%. No hidden gimmicks. No discount in services. Full Service with the results you desire, your home is sold for top dollar.
We also are marketing your home to the entire pool of buyers, including those that happen to be working with other agents.
Full promotion, Full Service, Quicker Sale of your home for a higher net price to you, no matter where the buyer came from or who they are working with.
As you can see, there is a difference in the Real Estate Agent or team that you select and the difference is all based upon you and how you are taken care of and helped.
If you have any questions, of if you would like to talk to us about working together on the sell of your home or in helping you find a new home, just give us a call at 703-662-3275.
