It’s been busy times on Pickett Street, as we’ve made a few significant upgrades to our business in the interest of improving service, and providing a more enriching online experience.
You may have heard: The Pickett Street Team now resides in the brand-new Keller Williams Bothell office. The reasons for the change are many, but the biggest item addressed by the change was the frustration our clients expressed in their interactions with the available property search tools. If you’ve been in the market for a property lately, you’ve likely tried out some of these online search tools. And in fact, the unfriendly user experience of those tools provided plenty of incentive for us in the quest to raise the bar; which makes this an opportune moment to put in a loud ‘thank You’ to all who offered suggestions, and provided the feedback we live by.
What we came to realize was that, as agents there are advantages to membership in the largest real estate network in the world, but those advantages don’t always translate to a better experience for our clients. A ‘bigger bureaucracy’ is not generally the most creative answer to new challenges. In spite of our best efforts to turn the battleship that is RE/Max Northwest, we finally conceded that our energies are better spent on other things; like helping our clients with their property needs.
After nearly a year of searching, we finally located a new, user-focused, truly intuitive Property Search tool. When we first found it, the final build for our local MLS wasn’t complete yet, which provided a unique opportunity for us to have a closer look under the hood, and allowed us to have some input into a few of the features.
If you’ve spent much time online, you’ve probably noticed that websites are frequently laid out as if users were the last consideration in the design process. Mindful of this shortsighted approach, Pickettstreet.com has been designed from the ground up, to simplify access to the information you, the user, are most likely to want. We wanted a search tool that reflected this aesthetic.
The result is an elegant, intuitive element of our website that we believe answers the needs of our clients, rather than serving the lowest-common denominator requirements of some distant corporate entity.
In closing, we have received many questions about our recent move, and below are answers to some of the more common ones.
What’s a “Keller-Williams”? KW, as they are frequently referred to, is a national real estate franchise. Founded by Gary Keller, and Joe Williams in 1983, Keller-Williams is a rapidly growing, dynamic company with an emphasis on support and education of their agents.
Are they local? Keller Williams is headquartered in Austin, TX. However, the KW franchise model provides a greater degree of autonomy to the local offices than even many of the local competitors, with the effect being a local firm with national resources.
Do they have a major presence in the market? Ranked 4th largest Real Estate Company in the US, Keller-Williams is a major player in the national scene, with over 70,000 agents and offices expanding into Canada. Keller-Williams is the only major Real Estate firm in the nation to show growth last year.
Will this affect your ability to market my home, or help with my purchase? It certainly will; with the new tools we’ve been able to implement and the Keller-Williams focus on support and ongoing training, we are better positioned than ever to provide our clients with the exceptional high quality of representation we believe you need and deserve.
In summary, regardless of where Pickett Street resides, rest assured that the welfare of our clients, and their interests with respect to real estate will remain our top priority.
To see what we’re so excited about, please visit: www.pickettstreet.com
For answers to additional questions on Keller Williams please check out this link: http://www.kw.com/kw/company.html