Realtor Role(s): Conduit, Funnel and Filter
What does the picture above depict?
If you said, “a tournament bracket,” you’d (also) be right, but what I was actually thinking of is a flowchart showing all the communication that accompanies a typical real estate deal, where both Buyer and Seller have their own Realtor.
So, a key part of what each Realtor does is organize and channel information to/for the other side.
For a Buyer, that means communicating with the client (or both of them, if it’s a couple); their lender; their lender’s appraiser; and the Buyer’s closing company.
For a Seller, the list include the client(s); the city inspector (if there’s a municipal point of sale inspection); the home stager; the photographer; any contractor(s) prepping the home for sale (e.g., painters); the Seller’s title company; and — frequently after the sale — the Seller’s CPA.
When there’s a Realtor on both sides of the transaction, all that communication gets funneled into two contact points.
When there’s only one Realtor involved — because the Realtor is acting as a Facilitator for both sides, or because the Seller is an unrepresented FSBO — all that communication instead resembles a hub-and-spoke system.
Which is why it feels like — and is — exponentially more work for the solitary Realtor!
