Dear Editor:
Every month I look forward to The Real Deal coming out. I find that I get wonderful and accurate information from your publication. This month however, your survey of the top ranking real estate firms was inaccurate, but unfortunately, you probably had no way of knowing.
You said that the information of the number of listings per firm and per agent was taken from the larger firms web sites.
Well there is a problem here. Douglas Elliman and Corcoran have automated systems (there may be others but I know these for a fact). When a listing is put into their in-house listing system as an exclusive, it goes up on the web site as such.
However, I know for a fact that there is at least one agent at Bellmarc that puts open listings on his web site as his exclusives. I’m sure that there are other agents at Bellmarc that also do it.
Also, since Bellmarc’s system is not automated or attached to their web site, (each agent maintains his or her own web page) many of the listings on their web site are sold and/or closed listings.
-Received from a top agent at a one of Manhattan’s largest brokerages
Editor’s Note:
When we published last month’s cover story, which sought to sum up the pecking order among Manhattan residential real estate firms, we were sure it would stir up some discussion among brokers, and comments from our readers make clear it did.
While we tried to account for open listings in the survey, it was apparent that some did get through.
Since often companies complain that total sales figures released by rivals are inaccurate or inflated, the survey was initially constructed to get more reliable and quantifiable “public” data off firms’ web sites.
While we plan to cull data from firms’ web sites in future surveys, we realize that this isn’t a fail-safe method, and plan to ask companies to provide data as well as using data from industry listing systems to verify our results.
The overwhelming number of letters and calls we received about open listings focused on Bellmarc
.
A spokesperson for the firm said open listings constitute only a small fraction of total listings at the firm. “In our entire system we have about 5 percent open listings, and those aren’t all on our web site,” said Janice Silver, executive vice president of sales and marketing. She said such listings are never explicitly marked on the web site as “exclusive.”
Silver also said the firm has a policy against posting sold and closed listings on its web site as available listings. While she acknowledged the firm’s listing system is not automated, she said the company’s listing department monitors what is up on the web site. “If there is something that shouldn’t be there, the listing department takes it off,” she said.
Another final note on the survey. The number of agents listed as working at Warburg was incorrect. The number of agents is 133.