Getz Properties succumbs to the current market conditions and is absorbed into Keller Williams.

The real estate signs are changing again… Agents from the former Getz Properties team recently exchanged their blue signs for Keller Williams red. Owner Jennifer Getz has disbanded her sales team, retaining a small administrative staff plus one buyers agent. The remaining sales agents from the Getz team are now on their own as independent agents at either Keller Williams Valencia or elsewhere, including Jennifer’s mom Linda Storli.

Getz Properties made a name for itself as a local discount brokerage, advertising flat fee listings and "cash back" to buyers in a manner similar to the "big name" discount brokerages.

As in all good deals, there was definitely a "catch" to the Getz deal for sellers. Their advertised $3,995 flat listing fee did not include adding the property to the MLS, which means that their online marketing for homes was virtually nonexistent since they had no other online presence other than a basic website. In the "get it now" world we’re in, not listing a home online is akin to using a box of big (as in little kid size) crayons as a marketing toolkit. 

According to the Getz Properties website (which is now archived), their "MLS Option" states: "We don’t list you on the MLS right away.  If you can get a buyer without it, you save big $$$. If you would like the MLS option, you must be willing to offer a buying agent around 2.5% to bring you a buyer." Translation: They were offering limited services to FSBO’s, including signs and some consulting services, but were not listing homes in the MLS for the advertised flat rate.

Economically speaking, this type of business model works only when there’s a high volume of business to cover the costs of operating a company with a low profit margin per transaction, similar to the KMart business model.

For buyers, they used the slogan: "Buyers we’ll find your dream home for FREE. In fact, we’ll PAY you!" Nice slogan, but the truth is that the SELLERS pay the real estate agent’s commission, so using a buyers agent is ALWAYS free to the buyer. What they were really offering at Getz was a 1/2% rebate to the buyers at closing, likely with some fine print as well.

How does this affect the real estate market in the Santa Clarita area? Likely not much… history shows that smaller brokerages that thrive in hot markets will often retract or disband in slow markets. However, it’s not likely that the Getz team is continuing their prior discount business model with Keller Williams. The major brokerage firms usually frown on this sort of thing, since it means that the company (in this case Keller Williams) gets paid less.

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