HomeSource
Real Estate
DISCOUNTING COMMISSIONS,
IMPROVING SERVICE
Available
en Ron Jasgur got his real estate bro-
ker'slicense, he knew he could make a
living selling just a house or two a
month. How hard could it possibly be?
Just find a few people a month to work with. It was
brilliant.
Until he realized that it's difficult to find buyers
when you have nothing to sell.
The key to selling houses was simply finding buy-
ers. That, he knew. And, the best way to find buy-
ers was to have something to sell them. It's not rock-
et science. It's Sales 101.
But real estate is a competitive business, and there
were already plenty of big, well-known companies in
the marketplace doing in excess of 95 percent of the
business out there. In order to make an impact, he
knew he had to offer better service at a better price.
So after much research and soul-
searching, he spent some money on
advertising, offering lower commis-
sions and pledging better service. He
even offered a cancellation guarantee
in writing that allowed a dissatisfied
seller to get out of the listing agree-
ment if they were unhappy with the
service they were getting, without any
penalties or hard feelings.
And then a funny thing happened.
People found out about it.
"The next thing you know, I have
three Realtors working with me and
we're selling 10 houses a month. It was
crazy. And we had more leads than we could han-
dle." Jasgur says, "I knew I must be doing something
right when other brokers in town started calling and
asking how I was able to do it."
He says that when you do a great job, your clients
thank you. But when you do a great job and you
save someone literally thousands of dollars in the
process, your clients tell everyone they know. "We're
getting referrals from our clients before we even have
their houses sold. We've leveled the playing field
from a dollars and cents standpoint so that we're all a
team working toward one common goal — getting
homes sold."
Full service home listing programs never cost more
than 4 percent at Homesource. That's quite a bit less
than the commissions charged by most traditional
real estate offices, and if you buy your next home
through them, you'll save an additional 1 percent.
"We always offer a full 3 percent cooperative com-
pensation to other real estate brokers. The buyer's
agents do all the hard work, and they deserve to be
compensated. Every agent in town has just as much
incentive to sell one of our listings as the one down
the street listed with another office," says Jasgur.
"Our full service program includes the MLS (mul-
tiple listing service), a very aggressive marketing sys-
tern, 24-hour-a-day exposure on the Internet and
cable tv, handling of all the paperwork, inspections,
appointments and showings. We even offer a low
$3,995 flat-fee program that makes sense in some
cases.''
For buyers, Jasgur says he believes in the soft-sell
approach. "We give shoppers the information they're
looking for without ramming it down their throats,"
he says. "Consumers are an educated bunch, and
they're not looking to be sold...they want to be pro-
vided with timely information in a hassle-free way,
and they appreciate a friendly Realtor who can pro-
vide it for them while building a two-way relation-
ship. Pressure is non-existent in the HomeSource
way of doing things."
Business has steadily increased nearly 50 percent
each month since opening the doors last summer.
The Homesource Team now consists of
eight full-time Realtors doing what
they got into this business for in the
first place; working with qualified,
ready-to -act buyers and sellers and
helping them find a solution to their
housing needs. "We're a small, high-
energy office with low overhead and a
family-like atmosphere. Everyone
helps each other out, and the tradition-
al sense of rivalry among commis-
sioned salespeople doesn't exist. Our
agents actually enjoy working here."
Maybe it's because Homesource
agents actually spend 80 percent of
their time really working with buyers instead of 80
percent of their time trying to find them. "Our mar-
keting is designed to do one of two simple things.
Get the telephone to ring or keep the e-mail flow-
ing."
He continues, "Without a buyer, there is no
deal... I truly believe that our buyer's agents are the
best at turning shoppers and information gatherers
into buyers. We're closing transactions at a rapid pace
without ever being pushy and buyers appreciate
that."
It seems to be working. But Jasgur admits it's not
as easy as it sounds. "We don't have fancy offices
with leather furniture in the lobby. We don't have
lots of extra employees running around with nothing
to do. We spend the majority of our budget on
advertising... and we track every dollar we spend very
closely. We can offer the rates that we do because we
don't waste money." Which seems to suit their cus-
tomers just fine.
Homesource Real Estate is located at
29623 Northwestern Highway in Southfield, just
east of Inkster Road. Their friendly agents are avail-
able seven days a week at 1-800-NEXT-HOME or
(248) 354-1400, or visit them on the web at
www.teamhomesource.com
Houses pre tty
much sell
themselves.
You just have
to show them
to the right
buyer.
RON JASGUR
Owner/Broker
HomeSource Real Estate
1 (800)-NEXT-HOME
www.teamhomesource.com
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