Most Realtor-affiliated real estate brokerages have a single office, are independent, and use fewer technology tools than their larger brethren, according to a report released today by the National Association of Realtors. The report, NAR’s 2013 Profile of Real Estate Firms, includes the results of an online survey fielded in August with 6,671 responses from Realtor executives at real estate firms nationwide.
Results were broken down by whether a firm specialized in residential or commercial brokerage and by the size of the firm: one, two, three, or four or more offices. Eight out of 10 real estate brokerages surveyed operated out of just one office — employing a median of two full-time licensees.
Only 8 percent of brokerages had four or more offices. In terms of technology, the largest firms reported that 20 percent of their customer inquiries or business leads and an equivalent share of the firm’s sales volume were generated from the firm’s website, and that 5 percent of leads and sales volume came from social media.
By contrast, single-office firms reported 10 percent of their leads and sales volume came from the firm’s website and that less than 1 percent of both came from social media.
While more than 90 percent of all firms reported using a multiple listing service website to market their firm’s listings, single-office firms were less likely than the largest firms to use any other websites for marketing. This includes NAR’s official website, realtor.com, which is used by 90 percent of the largest firms but only 78 percent of the smallest firms.
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