To go with a large, national real estate company or a small, local boutique real estate company?

Is there an advantage using a large, national real estate company like Coldwell Banker or ReMax? To be honest, I don't know, but it's something I'd ask all buyers and sellers of real estate to consider before going to them just because of name recognition. Ask yourself if you are using a large national company because they provide better service or because you are familiar with the brand. One thing I know is that brand name doesn't assure quality service.

You might find the service quality hit and miss in a large organization -- if you you get a good agent, then fine, but if you are given an inexperienced agent you might not get what you expected from the brand recognition.

Also, some big companies fall into the trap of volume business over quality, personalized service.

What I can speak confidently to is the service I provide from my small, independent, boutique real estate company. I can manage the quality because I only have three agents -- I'm 25% of the company :)

I challenged myself when I first started this company to stay small, focused on service and to provide personalization to the process. Personalization is a misused and abused concept, but I've taken it to heart. Personalization is at the core of my business model. Today, especially in Savannah, many buyers in the market are from out of town and have no idea about areas or local trends. Buyers search for homes online but mostly what they get is pictures and basic information. What personailzation does is focus the search on an individual's need -- information is gathered that puts the home pictures into perspective and adds context to the basic information.

Searching online can be frustrating when you can't visualize the area and are looking at pictures out of context. As a small operator dedicated to personalization, I add the the context and save the buyers hours of frustration from dead end searches. I'm not saying an agent from a large company can't do this, I only know I'm dedicated to it and can control the quality of the service.

As you're searching for homes, consider the most efficient way to accomplish your goal -- not to find the prettiest picture of a house, but to find the right home and the best price with the least amount of hassle.