Residential Brokerage

What is a Residential Brokerage?

Residential brokerage: The McGraw-Hill Companies define it as: a real estate broker who specializes in single-family homes. 10 words the can determine the value of your home, how it’s marketed and even IF it sells.


First, you will note, it says Broker and not Agent. An Agent cannot sell your home – only their Broker can. The Agent works for the Broker and the Broker (or his/her agency) works for you.

Let us be very clear – the Agents are still the backbone of the industry. They are willing to drive for endless hours, caravan to vacant and run-down homes and write endless offers. They will walk beautiful homes, “fixer-uppers”, distressed properties and even massive mansions – just to find the “right” property to fit you and your wife’s taste or investing budget.

It’s INCREDIBLY HARD – No it’s not Navy SEAL hard, but its hard none the less. Don’t think so? Try it on a Saturday afternoon, away from your kids’ soccer game (the third time this month), in 110 degrees weather, with a picky buyer, at the 35th home you looked at this month, and you hear: “This house is perfect!” – except for the colors of the master bedroom are not to their liking…

We mention all of this because an Agent can work for any broker (only one at a time, but still – just about any Broker). So, with all the hard work they have to do, who do they prefer to work for? Ask your Agent why they picked their broker. How does their Broker treat the staff? Fellow Agents? Is the brokerage office a cattle call of Agents, or a VIP relationship that the Agent found comforting? Do they Trust their Broker? Do they even know their Broker?

You should always ask to meet the Broker.

Finally, listing and ultimately selling (or buying) home in California is a HUGE pain in the… well, you know what. Dozens of documents, hundreds of pages, inspections, meetings and more meetings, the RPA, TDS, AVID, VCTDS, addendums, extensions, signatures and so much more. Make sure you find an Agent and a Broker you TRUST and LIKE. You are going to be spending a lot of time together.

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