New real estate brokerage will provide clients with comprehensive legal services while charging one-third less
SEATTLE, Feb. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Today Quill Realty, a new and unique model in the real estate industry, formally opened its doors for business. Quill offers its clients a substantial, two-part value proposition. Unlike any other real estate brokerage, Quill provides comprehensive legal services to home buyers throughout the Seattle area. And Quill charges less.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140218/PH66520LOGO)
Like any real estate firm, Quill provides real estate agent services, such as home tours, opinions of value, and contract negotiations. But Quill does more. Quill provides its clients with an attorney to counsel and represent the client throughout the transaction. So every Quill client gets an attorney who will answer the client's questions and ensure that the client's interests are fully protected, from initial negotiations through closing. Quill pays the lawyer's fee.
Quill also costs less than a typical real estate broker. Quill charges a 2% fee and rebates the balance of its commission to the client at closing. Since most sellers offer a 3% commission to a buyer's agent, the typical Quill client will get a rebate at closing of 1%. The U.S. Department of Justice encourages this sort of rebate as a means of lowering transaction costs for the home-buying consumer.
Quill is able to provide more while charging less because of the Internet. Today, nine out of ten home buyers use the Internet for their home search. Consumers no longer expect their agent to find every potential home of interest, and agents spend less time searching for properties that may be a good fit for the client. Yet most home buyers don't reap any financial benefit from their efforts at finding their home to purchase.
Moreover, a traditional real estate agent spends a lot of time looking for the next client. Generally speaking, agents rely heavily on word-of-mouth referrals, their primary marketing strategy for the last hundred years or so. Agents have yet to broadly utilize the mass-marketing opportunities created by the Internet. Quill, on the other hand, is Internet-driven. This allows Quill to acquire new clients more efficiently, which in turn allows Quill to charge less.
Initially, Quill will focus on serving home buyers, with seller services to be added later this year.
Quill founder Craig Blackmon is a local attorney who has focused his practice on residential real estate since 2005. Prior to starting Quill, Blackmon was co-owner and co-founder of WaLaw Realty, another new model real estate firm. Quill represents the culmination of Blackmon's efforts to provide real estate consumers with comprehensive legal services for a significantly lower fee.
Contact:
Craig Blackmon
Founder
Quill Realty
(206) 512-8883