What Does Full Service Mean?

I am not a fan of discount real estate services (or any discount service where the stakes are high).  I certainly would not want a discount Doctor or Attorney.

I am a Full Service Agent and I work for a Full Service Brokerage.  But what does that mean?

My analogy is this:

A full service car wash vs a do it yourself car wash.

At a full service car wash:

I give them my keys and they take the wheel;

They run the car efficiently through the car was;

They dry it;

They vacuum it the interior;

They wipe down the dash and the rest of the interior;

They shine the wheels;

I relax;

Drink a coffee; Eat a danish;

Ready the paper; Check my e-mail;

Talk with the other customers;

Then drive off in a shiny and clean car.

The do it your self car wash goes something like this:

I wait for an open bay;

I drive the car in trying to center it as best as I can;

I search for a mountain of quarters;

I stack the quarters up neatly on the machine that selects what I want to do;

I load the machine with my mountain of quarters;

I select the first option;

I spray the car while listening to the beeping of “running out of time”

I select the brush option and start scrubbing the car;

I continue to listen to the beeping;

I rush to the machine to add more quarters (the mountain is getting smaller);

I finish scrubbing, select rinse and start hosing;

I’m listening for more beeping;

I add more quarters (now I have a mole hill of quarters);

I finish rinsing, and now I am done…

Oh, not yet, I still have to dry the car;

Now I am done;

Wait, no I’m not, now I get back into the car and drive to the vacuums;

I wait for an open vacuum;

I get the rest of my quarters and add more money;

I vacuum everything!  The floors; floor-mats; the seats; under the seats….

Now I am really done!

Actually not yet, I still have not wiped out the interior…

Or forget it!  I have spend almost the same amount of money, taken twice as long, done all the work and it’s still not finished.

Full service vs discount service is like the car wash.  You can pay to have it done right or you can pay to have it done on a discounted basis.

Real Estate is the same.  You can pay for an Agent to represent you and be by your side throughout the transaction (an long afterwards) or you can pay a discounted agent and get discounted service.