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Moving from one property to another, whether selling and/or buying a home, a business property or investment
property, is without a doubt a high stress situation for all people involved in the transaction.
Stonebrook's mission is to provide Stonebrook agents with professional support and tools, with which they can assist their clients in moving from one property to another in an
effective and less stressful manner. We will oversee the "Buy/Sell Adventure" from start to finish.
The following shows some of the innovative tools and services Stonebrook has developed over the years to aid agents in this mission.
| STONEBROOK: 1ST IN INNOVATION | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE REST OF THE STONEBROOK STORY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BACKGROUND | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| THE BEGINNING | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MARKETING BY STONEBROOK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RESOURCE CENTER FOR CLIENTS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| THE AGENT IS THE KEY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| THE ROLE OF THE REAL ESTATE COMPANY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT |
Stonebrook Real Estate, Inc, serving the Salt Lake, Park City, Provo, Tooele, and Ogden areas, is a full-service real estate company engaged in the business of sales, leasing, and management of residential, commercial, industrial, and investment properties. The history of the company goes back to 1964 in Southern California. Originally the Principals operated under the Spicer name. The company has been in Utah since 1977 and has used the Stonebrook name since that time.
Initially, the company's real estate activities revolved around working with investors to buy, remodel, manage, and resell residential income properties. This included general partnerships and limited partnerships. After the move to Utah, Spicer Construction was added to the program and the building, marketing, and selling of new homes became part of the activities, along with the marketing of existing housing and the managing of income producing residential and commercial properties. In 1992, Stonebrook Mortgage Services, Inc. became part of the Stonebrook family. Since that time, other selected ancillary entities have joined the Stonebrook Family, making the concept of "One Stop Shopping" a reality.
FOR SELLERS:
Stonebrook's marketing plan is simple: find buyers and negotiate the best sales price by exposing listed properties to as many potential, qualified buyers as possible in the shortest period of time.
FOR BUYERS:
Stonebrook's goal is basic: find the property that fits the client's desires and needs, and negotiate the best price and finance terms.
These plans and goals are accomplished by knowledgeable, experienced, and caring real estate agents who use a variety of special systems: i.e., the world's largest referral network, advertising listings using virtual and picture tours on the Internet, personal buyer plans, several home warranty plans, pictorial property information brochures/flyers available for each property, multiple listing services covering the entire Wasatch Front (Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo, Park City, Tooele, and more), and "web brochures" that help answer questions about life in the greater Salt Lake Area, plus an in-house mortgage company that assists buyers in getting qualified in the shortest period of time with the lowest possible interest rate and associated costs.
Stonebrook created a Resource Center that clients can use to research and educate themselves about housing in general, the community of their choice, potential hazards associated with real property, and experts to help with solutions to problem areas. It includes everything from obtaining a school report to finding a company that mitigates radon gas, plus community activities and Utah services. As new information becomes available, this center is changed to keep clients and agents up to date.
This Resource Center is part of Stonebrook's robust, multi-faceted, user friendly home web page (www.stonebrook.com) which allows buyers and sellers to search for properties, see mortgage programs and rates, get school reports, review information about hazards that could impact a particular property (geology, radon gas, mold, contamination, etc.) and ways to protect themselves from many of these unknowns (inspection, testing, and mitigation companies), plus keep abreast of community services and activities (the Jazz, Utah State online services, and much more). From this website, you can check event calendars, buy tickets, renew licenses, check the weather, find map locations, etc.: one website does it all!
Stonebrook's philosophy is that the real estate agent is the key ingredient in the real estate sales/purchase process. They are the focal point and the director of all the activities that must take place to bring a specific transaction to a successful conclusion. Stonebrook agents are experienced with strong work ethics. Many agents have been in the business for over 10-15 years, taking home well-earned commissions, usually netting 90-94%. Stonebrook professionals share their knowledge and success creating a strong network within the office.
It is Stonebrook's position that the real estate company should be the support arm of the agent and should provide the latest available tools, services, and support that will allow agents to service their clients in an accurate and efficient manner, i.e., an extensive computerized information center that has all available real estate data possible for the area, computer programs to analyze this data, promotional materials that are affordable and personalized, a voice mail and email system that notifies the agent in a timely manner so that no important message is ever lost, computerized client databases and cost effective client follow-up systems, secretarial services, client presentation materials, plus recognition for achievement programs that award agents for excellence and professionalism. Add all of this to an office facility that is modern and makes efficient use of office and work space, and you have reduced the overhead that must be carried by all agents to minimum level; i.e., a cost effective level. Matching this support/service with a real 100% commission split structure and minimum fixed fees, allows agents to change companies with little or no risk. It's a win for everyone and creates an environment for personal and professional growth.
In the early years, Stonebrook was a standard real estate company, recruiting and training new agents, supplying a variety of programs, materials and services (whether or not they were ever utilized), and charging big fees in the form of low splits (50/50) in order to pay for all the wasted time, effort, and materials.
As the 1980's came to a close, it became apparent that for agents to be competitive in the 90's and beyond, the structure and support of the office/company had to change. The real estate office must provide all the support and tools necessary for agents to meet the needs of their clients (buyers and seller) plus, these programs must be cost effective in order for the agents to be competitive in any future sales environment. Not only must the office and programs be top notch with low costs, but it is imperative that the commission splits be designed to allow the agents to be profitable in any future competitive commission situation. This meant that every office operation needed to be computerized and efficient so that a smaller, well trained, expert staff could handle a number of agents at a reduced office cost per agent.
This Stonebrook has accomplished. With new and innovating ideas, Stonebrook's management team developed and established all of the tools, support, and marketing programs displayed above. Of course, in the later 90's, the Internet made its way into the real estate business and Stonebrook "jumped" on this new tool to make office operations even more productive and efficient. Now, Stonebrook offers all of the support and marketing that a few years ago could only be done by the very largest companies.
At Stonebrook, overall monthly expenses for agents are less for more support. Agents pay only for what they use, not what every other agents use, resulting in an unbeatable bottom line. Agents choose their listing and selling commissions based on their clients' needs - not feeding the company's bottom line. NO FRANCHISE FEES, NO MISCELLANEOUS FEES TO CLIENTS, NO FEES FOR MIDDLE MANAGEMENT. Everyone benefits, clients and agents alike. Stonebrook and their agents continue to grow and prosper today, and look forward to a bright, professional future.