We were recently introduced to a new Home Warranty company with amazing technology and a different concept for keeping home repairs from sky rocketing, and as a real estate Broker I was not only excited to introduce this to my clients, I was excited to sign up myself. However, in less than 30 days as I logged online to set up a home warranty for a client, I found out that this company had been gobbled up by a larger home repair company! What started as a vision to offer better hands on service for home warranties, ended with a huge payout.

Doesn’t it seem like all the small companies are being taken over by the large companies and limiting our options?  Amazon is the largest retail internet site in the world, but they continue to add services and gobble up smaller companies.  Will we become a world where all of our shopping is done on Amazon? The same thing seems to be happening in real estate as some of the largest real estate companies in the world acquire or merge with the small boutiques.

Energy Realty is a small boutique with only 25 agents, and we are all about full hands on professional service. In a world that is being taken over by the corporate giants, I hope to remain the small fish so that we can continue to cater to the needs of our clients.

Technology is great and is making our lives easier in many ways, but we are losing the personal touch through technology.  What happened to the days of calling a company and having a live person answer the phone?  Why do we need to go through a litany of recorded options over the phone or internet before we can get a live person to finally answer our questions? Many of the large companies no longer give you an option to speak to a live person and expect you to find your answers on their website “Help” section.

When dealing with someone’s largest investment, I feel that we accomplish so much more with personal interaction, not only through the negotiations process, but also to help give our clients the comfort and ease they need when buying or selling a home.

Admittedly, I am an online shopper, and Amazon is a go to site, but when I am looking for service, I want to work with a company that treats me like an individual and not a number.  In the end, quality is more important than quantity.

Thank you for letting me ramble on this month about corporate take over’s. I promise to give you my views on the market again next month.