Sellers are more educated today. Today’s sellers are more educated and tech savvy, with over 90% finding the homes and information they need from the Internet or on their smartphone, experienced and educated sellers realized that the 6% agents can’t really provide more than we do, or in most cases even close to what we provide.

Some 6% commission agents get very creative with their “Sales Myths” to try to convince sellers to list with them at a 6% commission. So, if agents are no longer assisting buyers and sellers like they used to, why are they still being compensated in the same way? The simple answer is they shouldn’t be.

We agree 100% Most people probably do not know that the standard listing agreement that 6% Traditional Agents use states that if the house sells while they have it listed, you pay 6%. If they do nothing more than put their sign in the yard and enter the listing in MLS, it’s still 6%. Even if you sell the house to your neighbor, your sister, your friend and the agent had absolutely nothing to do with making that happen, you pay 6%. It’s unbelievable that many sellers sign the standard 6% commission listing agreement, most probably never read it. It’s completely one-sided in favor of the agent. Worst of all, once you’ve signed the listing contract, even withdraw it from the market will not let you off the hook. You will not be able to list it with anyone else before it expires. If you sold it within the original expiration date, you still must pay the original listing agent the 6% commission. If you ever need to do a 6% listing, do it only for 30 days, and extend it for 30 day at a time if you see the agent is actively marketing the home for you. Or you demand to always build in a un-conditional withdraw into any listing agreement.

Buyers don’t care about the company who has the listing; they care about the property and the price. The buyer is not buying a Brand, Branding of a real estate firm has nothing to do with your property, it’s the location, features and price.

Wow, you mean the agents that think the Internet is just a fad? If these agents have time to drive around to see what snacks each house is having they must not be very busy, or part time agents looking for a social club. Caravans do not help sell your house. A Caravan is about getting to as many houses as possible in the shortest amount of time. It’s in and out and on to the next house. There is no walking and observing and taking notes. It’s less than 2 or 3 minutes per house, movin’ on. They are a waste of time… especially if you are in a fast-paced market.

Ok, put them on the spot and ask them exactly what that means Most 6% traditional agents seem to like vague and non-committal words like “market”. If you ever hear this, do ask, “What specifically would you do?” Don’t let them off the hook when they give you more vague answers. Probe further and insist on quantifiable specifics! such as Open Houses, Professional Photography, Realtor.com showcase, listing syndication, Performance Reporting, Flyers, Videos, Virtual Tours, Texting Service and etc. The more specific the better for you. Many 6% traditional agents only take a few poor quality pictures with their own digital camera, put it on the MLS and call themselves a full service traditional agent. These services, and much more, are included in our Hawaii Real Estate Team service, at a much lower cost to you.

First of all, we sell more homes than in one year, than most agents sell in there entire career, ask the agent how many homes they have sold recently.

Second, Buyers know where they want to buy, how much they want to spend, and what the perfect home is, then they contact an agent, and that if that agent says I don’t want to show it because they only offer 2%, what would you say, “find a new agent” right. Second, Agents would not know that your listing is different from any other listing, even if they could somehow tell the difference, it really wouldn’t matter anyway.

Buyer’s agents are independent contractors. They do not have any obligation to their broker or other big monopoly listing agents. All buyers’ agents care about is getting their commission, and they WILL show your house since they are getting exactly the same commission with our listing as any other listing. The only agents complaining and making up “blackballing” stories are the local monopoly listing agents who can’t get 6% listings so easily any more, and they don’t normally work with buyers at all. They go to funeral homes, local churches, sports events to get listings only. They reply on buyer’s agent to sell the homes almost 99% of the time. They quickly put a “SOLD” sign up as if the listing was sold by them. An with our Buyer Rebate Program, Buyers will be drawn to your home regardless of what a 6% agent “tried” to do. We’ve sell over 110 properties a year, how many has that agent sold?

A buyer agent gets the same commission no matter where the buyers come from. Sometimes a relocation referrals cost buyer agent 25% to 35% of their share of the commission. It actually hurts the agents if the buyer are referred by their company referrals. Even if they list your home, there is still no incentive for their office agents to sell the your house over any other house on MLS. A good question to ask an agent who gives you this myth is, “Bring your buyer over, you will get paid”

I suppose that just because they have a big expensive office with mahogany desks, they will provide more direct support? Another leap of faith and logic. The solution to this is simple: Ask them “What full time staff do you have and what is their role, and can I contact them anytime about my home”, watch them squirm.

We have a full time professional staff dedicated to assisting you with answers, marketing, negotiations, contract and escrow coordination and moving concierge.

This is a favorite Sales Myth of some bigger agencies. If you’ve ever seen one of their books, you’d know it contains little useful information and is designed to promote their office and their agents. There is no address or detail. Typically there’s a small property photo, and a one line description like “Big yard – bring the kids & pets”. Even if it had some useful information about your home, the time lag between printing and distribution (greater than 6 weeks) makes it useless, especially with over 90% using the Internet to find homes. Many of the books come out quarterly, the information may already be 4 1/2 months old when it’s picked up. Do you notice that each page always has a big beautiful photo of the agent. The goal is to promote the agents and office, it’s not for promoting your home. their trying to get you to pay to advertise themselves. Do a test, call a few and see how many are even still for sale, or are they just advertising plows to get more customers for the brokerage?

Active producing agents subscribe to the MLS and send buyer new home alerts automatically. Email new listings to all agents simply annoy other agents, and make them dislike the spamming agent. No legitimate agent that we know of reads this spam. If agents have buyers looking for a particular type of property, they search MLS, not spam emails.

Absolutely ridiculous. Agents who are busy working with buyers don’t have time for tea parties or golf tournaments or other functions to rub elbows with other agents. Many 6% commission who have time for tea parties are typically new and inexperienced and don’t have anything better to do than “networking” with other agents. Agents working with live buyers use the MLS to search for homes, not trying to find homes from some neophyte agent at a golf course. We don’t have time for that, we dedicate our time to working and getting your home sold.

The reality is that over 90% of all homes on MLS are sold through a another agent, and just how do they claim to do this, by mentioning your house for 2 minutes at a monthly meeting? If they claim this, make them explain how they do that and ask for a report backing up this claim, watch them squirm…

Seriously? Now this one is clever. They assert that top agents don’t have to “discount their services.” Neither do we. What we do is discount our costs. If “top real estate agents” aren’t willing to discount their costs perhaps it is because they are fat and happy with things just as they are. Do they have to? Of course they don’t. That’s the wonderful thing about a vibrant, competitive changing marketplace where you win through better service and over time, through lower costs. It takes the same effort to sell a $200,000 home as it does a $1,000,000 home. If they disagree ask them “Ok, whats different?”

We are in the top 10 in the State, we do they rank?

Many 6% agents play tricks to get your listing, and then “hold it hostage”. First they say whatever is necessary to get your listing, even tell you your house is worth more than it really is. They usually do a 6 month or more listing term, so they can convince you to lower your price later on. Perhaps you don’t want to reduce your price, or maybe you think the agent doesn’t know what he’s doing and you want to list with somebody else. If you want to cancel your listing for any reason, they demand a “fee” to compensate them for all their “hard work” and expenses before they cancel your listing. This is often thousands of dollars. The reason this often works is that no other agent can enter your property in MLS when there is another listing active in the system. If you want to get rid of the agent, you need to “pay them off”. Please ask for unconditionally withdraw clause in your listing agreement.

We are not “Cheap”, we are a “Value”, a legitimate job for a legitimate price…

Hawaii Real Estate Team is a progressive real estate brokerage with consumer-focused value, services, branding, technology and marketing. Our flexible pricing model and competitive programs empower our brokers and agents to provide excellent service to our clients without compromise and allowing our agents to focus on being a valuable source of resources, guidance, knowledge and information for buyers and sellers. Since the advent of the Internet, gone are the days when agents alone had access to listing data and acted as the gatekeepers to their clients. Today’s on-demand technology has provided clients on both ends of the transaction access to immediate and seemingly limitless property information. A mobile-first, end-to-end collaborative platform addresses the consumer demand for an easy-to-use digital experience reducing our cost of operation and passing the savings to you.

A refrigerator calendar magnet with a 10 year old photoshoped picture… (we need to cut overhead somewhere, we don’t waste money on self promotion) The Hawaii Real Estate Team provides you more than a Traditional 6% Agent! We provide Modern Technology, Trained Full-Service Agents, Efficient Systems and Procedures. We utilize dedicated coordination and handling of your real estate transaction. You get the expertise traditional real estate agents offer—without the decades of inefficiency the traditional real estate process can create. In fact, we’ve created an environment that brings out the best in agents because they are free of the administrative tasks that get in the way. We have never understood, nor felt comfortable, charging excessive fees based on 80’s technology, do it right. We believe in the efficient use of technology to standardize and expedite the real estate process and pass the savings to our clients. With software created by real estate professionals, integrated with processes that eliminates hassles. The result is amazing coordination and dexterity on your next real estate transaction. You get the expertise traditional real estate agents offer—without the decades of inefficiency the traditional real estate process can create. We are driven by a core group with a passion for real estate, experienced agents and sales coordinators. We offer you more and fees that are thousands of dollars less. We provide full-service real estate services as a team. Driven by a core group with a passion for real estate, experienced agents and sales coordinators offer you fees that are thousands of dollars less. Buying and selling a home is a huge undertaking. That’s why we designed our entire business to make the real estate process seamless, efficient and successful. Technology has changed the way you find and sell homes, yet the traditional commission model hasn’t. Until now.

We agree 100%, and just what do you get from a 6% Commission agent? Compared to what we provide the answer is clear, the Hawaii Real Estate Team provides more for less.