Owner of exclusive buyers agency opens Property Watchers, a company that helps owners prepare their homes for sale

NOREEN SEEBACHER
For The Journal News
(Original Publication: March 19, 2000)

The owner of an exclusive buyers real estate agency is forming a new alliance with sellers through a business designed to prepare properties for sale.

Peter Bell, owner of Mamaroneck-based Balch Buyers Realty, describes the new company as a consulting business specializing in services to both those who plan to sell their homes on their own and those who plan to list with a real-estate agent.

Frank Becerra Jr. for The Journal News Peter Bell, owner of Balch Buyers Realty in Mamaroneck, sits on the steps of a borne on E. Grand Street in Mount Vernon. Bell has started a new company, Property Watchers, that caters to sellers. Among the services offered: pre- and post-sale maintenance and repairs, marketing advice, and property management for homeowners who plan to rent or leave their residences vacant for extended periods.

The company, Property Watchers, will also offer other services, such as providing estimates of property value.

Bell said the company can coordinate a range of professionals so buyers and sellers "can have a feeling of comfort about the value and condition" of a home. Services include presale home inspections, evaluation of real estate tax assessments, title checks, pest inspections and property valuation.

The company can also evaluate the qualifications of potential buyers, make suggestions about marketing and advertising programs, and provide property management for homeowners who plan to rent or leave their homes vacant for extended periods, Bell said.

Bell is one of a growing number of real-estate professionals nationwide eager to tap new revenue sources. As increasing numbers of buyers and sellers are turning to the Internet for information that was once exclusive to real-estate agents, real-estate companies have been scrambling to reevaluate their roles.

Robert Moles, president and chief executive of Century 21 Real Estate Corp. in Parsippany, N.J., concedes that the Internet is both educating consumers and changing the role of brokers and salespeople. Instead of just helping consumers make an offer or market a listing, salespeople will assist with the transfer and setup of various services, such as moving, carpet installation, long-distance telephone service and home security systems, he said.

Within the past few years, many real-estate companies have adopted so-called concierge services -- the real estate equivalent to that helpful guy in a hotel lobby -- to provide consumers everything from utility hookups to landscaping contracts. Often, brokerages establish "preferred vendor" agreements by which the brokerage collects a referral or advertising fee from the service provider.

Coldwell Banker, for example, offers personalized concierge folders to buyers in southern Connecticut and in Westchester and Rockland counties. It contains phone numbers for utilities, telephone and cable television hookup, daily newspaper service, trash pick-up, schools and hospitals. There are also motor vehicle and voter registration forms, and U.S. Post Office change of address cards, as well as discount coupons on moving-related goods and services.

Now home builders are also experimenting with the same types of services. According to ToolBase News, a newsletter for the building trades from the National Association of Home Builders, builders are offering basic concierge services for the same reason as brokers: To extend the relationship with their clients.

Known in the industry as creating long-term relationships or "customers for life," brokers, builders and other real-estate professionals acknowledge that they can improve profit potential by maintaining contact with customers throughout their ownership of a home, rather than parting immediately after the sales transaction.

Through expanded and ongoing services, real-estate professionals want to transform deals from one time events to ongoing business relationships. A growing number are offering innovative options ranging from pre-sale inspections to post-sale services to simultaneously win new customers and generate additional sources of revenue. The services include many that Property Watchers is now offering

• Preparation of a home for sale with pre-inspections, upgrades, maintenance and repair;
• Post-sale maintenance and repair, including lists of preferred vendors who have been pre-qualified to perform services or provide products;
• Lists of other service providers -- including baby sitters, insurance companies, florists and other companies to support families in every day life.

Keeping in touch with clients through new and related services is especially important for exclusive buyers agents, who otherwise stand little chance of representing their clients in the future. Since they don't represent sellers, a buyers agent could have continued contact with a client only if he planned to buy another home in the same area.

Bell has circumvented that problem with ancillary services to home owners -- including some he may have represented as buyers -- through his second company. Because it's a separate business, Bell said there's no conflict of interest with his other company, which caters to buyers.

"We just wanted a way to offer our expertise to homeowners if they decided to sell. Our goal is to give them the opportunity to know in advance if there are any problems and what they should address before a sale," he said.