Discover The Battenkill Difference

We are not like everyone else. Our different (and we think better) approach to the real estate business is founded in our core beliefs.

• Internet Marketing and Social Media are the places to be – print advertising is a waste of everyone’s time and money
• Buyers deserve equal representation in every real estate transaction
• Commissions in our area are too high – we have cut our commissions and represent exceptional value for the consumer
• Small is Beautiful – Bigger is Not Better
• Honesty and Integrity above all else – even if it costs us a client
• It is important to give back to the local community – we donate a portion of every commission to local charities and volunteer in many local organizations

Marketing Your Property:

We will maximize your exposure on the internet through the traditional channels: the mls, our website, realtor.com, zillow, trulia, etc. In addition we will use the exciting new social media channels such as Facebook, You Tube, and our Manchester Vermont Real Estate blog to reach out to a newer, web-savy generation of buyers.

We will not advertise your home in print advertising. The news is full of stories of traditional newspapers going out of business. That was the old way of doing things. The truth of the matter is that print ads are most effective at attracting other sellers. Sellers like to see their property in print. Our experience is that it is rare that a buyer walks in with an ad in hand and purchases the house they saw in the ad. It is not a cost effective way of doing business and is one of the leading reasons why commissions in our area are as inflated as they are.

Buyer Representation:

We believe buyers deserve equal representation in real estate transactions. The old way of doing business was that agents represented sellers, no one represented buyers, and “Buyer Beware” was the unwritten rule. We do not believe in the old way of doing business. We encourage every buyer who walks through our door to enter into a buyer representation agreement with us, and if not with us then with someone else who understands that the old way of doing business should be dead and buried.

Our commissions are 5%:

We understand what everyone is going through in this economy. We are going through it too. We’ve tightened our belts and cut our overhead. We need to make a living but also want to help our clients and want to deliver value. The spread between buyers and sellers has widened considerably over the past year. If we can do a little to help narrow that gap, that’s what we will do. Our commissions on houses and condos are 5%, most of our competitors are at 6% or even 7%. How else are they going to support their bloated advertising budgets?

Size Matters but not in the way you think:

We are a small, family owned and operated office and we think that is the way it should be. The truth of our business is that we sell other offices’ listings and they sell ours. It is a relationship business and you should choose your agent based on who you want to do business with not who is the largest. When your agent already has 20 other clients, what kind of relationship are you going to have with that agent? There is only so much time in the day and chances are you are going to be dished off to an assistant when you need service. That is not how we do business. We are not looking to corner the market and drive our competition out of business. We value every client relationship we have and strive to develop strong relationships based on giving each of you the time and attention you deserve. That’s how we expect to be treated and that’s how we will treat you.

We think the idea of Bigger is Better has had a very negative impact on our economy and our society. We think it is time to return to a more human scale. That certainly feels like the Vermont way of doing business to us.

Honesty and Integrity:

Making money is not the be all and end all of our existence. If it were, we wouldn’t be selling real estate in Vermont. Believe us, there are easier ways to make a living. As Realtors, we pledge to uphold our code of ethics. But even if we didn’t have the Realtor code of ethics, our own ethics would require us to treat every client, customer, and competitor with honesty and integrity. In practice this means that we will not give a seller an inflated price just to get a listing, nor will we hard sell a buyer on a particular property just to close a sale. If this costs us a client or a sale, we are willing to live with that.

Giving Back:

We are truly fortunate to live and work in such a great place. We have great respect for our friends and neighbors who make up our community. The generosity that we see every day, people helping people in so many different ways, is infectious. We hear the call and dedicate ourselves to doing as much as we can to provide help and assistance to those in need around us. Please let us know if you are looking for ways to get involved.