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Tuesday, February 1, 2000

Flat-rate brokerage opens here
Assist-2-Sell hopes flat rates per sale will undercut competition
By Andrea Jares
Caller-Times

John Kennedy/Caller-Times

The owners of Assist-2-Sell, (from left) Diane Gatica, Yvonne Mendez and Albert Gatica, hope the concept of charging a flat rate to sell a home takes off in Corpus Christi. The business has already succeeded in Nevada.

A growing number of real estate agents are applying the less-is-more concept to commissions.
   Nevada-based Assist-2-Sell opened up its first Texas franchise this month off South Padre Island Drive. The growth of the company is based on the concept that if a real estate company not only charges a flat fee, but undercuts the price of other real estate agents, its phones will ring.
   And they've been ringing a lot. The company has more than doubled its presence throughout the country every year since branching off into franchises in 1995. There are now 90 Assist-2-Sell offices in the United States.
   Lyle Martin of Reno, Nev., who co-developed Assist-2-Sell in 1987, predicts that by this time next year, there will also be offices in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
   Assist-2-Sell will sell houses for a flat, $1,995 fee - regardless of the selling price. In a market where last year's selling price averaged $95,435, a typical 6 percent commission would cost about $5,726.
   Martin said the lower selling price draws in more customers and, in turn, more houses to sell. His Assist-2-Sell ranks No. 5 in market share out of 240 real estate companies in the Reno area, he said.
   He and co-founder Mary LaMeres-Pomin figured that charging commissions that were significantly less would bring more people.
   "Let's face it. It's not twice as hard to sell a home that's twice as expensive."
   Diane Gatica, broker for the Corpus Christi franchise of Assist-2-Sell, said the low-cost commission gives Corpus Christi buyers and sellers another option that could save them money.
   "Especially at the higher end of the scale," Gatica said.
   Assist-2-Sell is also expected to take a bite out of the for-sale-by-owner market, she said. Those clients most likely need professional assistance but don't want to spend a lot of money on the service, she said.
   The local franchise, located at 4455 S.P.I.D. Suite 111, officially opened at the beginning of the year. Gatica and her husband, Albert, used to own Gatica Realty. Realtor Yvonne Mendez, a former Century 21 agent, is the third owner of the local franchise.
   Internet listings planned
   Diane Gatica came from an accounting background, where clients pay for services rendered. The flat fee instead of a commission was something that made sense to her.
   "It's a concept that we just believed in," she said.
   The new franchise has plans to offer Internet listings from the national site www.assist2sell.com.
   Nationally, commissions range from 4 percent to 8 percent on residential transactions, said Forrest Pafenberg, an economist for the National Association of Realtors. It depends on the market area, the amount of service the agent gives and how much the seller is willing to negotiate the price of selling a house.
   A period of change
   Real estate companies are putting salaried sales agents on their staffs, he said. Not all have been successful. Some fail to overcome the low commissions that keep the business afloat, he said.
   The idea of flat commissions may or may not continue to grow, but the constant that can be seen with the Internet-savvy real estate world is change.
   "This is a period of change," Pafenberg said. "The commissions we knew five years ago are not the same as the ones we're seeing now."



Business reporter Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by email at jaresa@caller.com. On Real Estate is published every other Tuesday in the business section.

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