Do people only look for well known firms?

Doesn't make sense to me. If a place seems suitable, then dig further regardless of the listing broker. Otherwise you might miss the place that'd be a good fit.

No. You want less inventory to choose from? I find the smaller firms, particularly the one man shops, tend to work pretty much exclusively in certain buildings (often the ones they live in) and handle a majority of the sales in those buildings. Some focus on specific neighborhoods, some only sponsor sales, etc. If you exclude these listings and those of firms with poorly designed websites you could easily miss out on apartments that fit your criteria.

Good points about the "live in the building" brokers, still, some of the Smalls just have an offputting vibe.
There are several firms that I now bypass as well. Maybe I am wrong.
Is it ok to name some of them?

I work, as does 30 Years, for DG Neary Realty in Chelsea. He can tell you what his rationale is, but mine was simple: I didn't want to spend half my work life at meetings (I had already been a middle manager in a Fortune 500 Corporation and had run/attended enough meetings to last a lifetime!)

Now, if I want to do something different/creative, I have to walk about 30 feet to see if it's possible. Some smaller brokerages are bottom-of-the-barrel firms, but some, like ours, are just boutiques where the boss/sponsoring broker wants to concentrate on just a neighborhood or two (and be able to take vacations) and where the agents enjoy spending their time on client service instead of bureaucracy.

If you're looking in Greenwich Village, to take one example, you would do yourself a great disservice if you passed up my firm, or Ken Barkoff's, or Janet Robliotti's, or Beth Chase's, or Mary Woods', or Classic Realty, or Eychner Associates just because you had never heard of them.

ali
---
Alison Rogers
Licensed Salesperson
DG Neary Realty
57 West 16th Street
member, Real Estate Board of New York and Manhattan Association of Realtors

In addition-some of the smaller firms are not REBNY members, which means they may not co-broke. If there is a property you are interested that is represented by one of the non-REBNY firms, going through them will be your only option. Why limit yourself because you don't like their website?

Ali: On the Upper West Side, Klara Madlin and Wohlfarth are well-regarded niche players. There are others who focus on a sub-neighborhood or even a single building. Quality seems to vary widely.

With regard to co-brokerage, Villager wrote: "If there is a property you are interested that is represented by one of the non-REBNY firms, going through them will be your only option."

I don't think that's true of most non-REBNY firms, though REBNY would probably like buyers to believe it.

I have been shut out of open houses in Park Slope when accompanied by a Corcoran broker where the home was listed by a non-cooperating firm. It's not in the best interest of the seller they are representing, but each small agency makes its own rules.

I honestly believe that for the past 15 years or so SELLERS placed WAY too heavy an emphasis on their decisions as to who to list their unit with based on "big firm". And what happened to a lot of them is the got less than they should have because they didn't realize that the person they were dealing with was more important than the firm (in general). What has greatly expanded this disconnect lately is MANAR and RE systems where you look a lot of small brokerage firm's websites, and you get all the listings on their site.

As far as "In addition-some of the smaller firms are not REBNY members" I think this is MUCH more the case outside of Manhattan or with "mostly rental" firms" I think most of the smaller firms have had no real choice but to join REBNY in the recent past.
And I agree to a large extent with w81

Great discussion!
Any idea about RE firms that mostly deal with sales in Upper Manhattan?

And as a sidenote, my big pet peeve is when they do not have floorplans....pics I can almost love without, but I need a floorplan!!!

*live, not love....

one thing I will say about some of the smaller firms is that their websites are SO far behind the curve that you don't even get things like floorplans (or at least decently presented one's), or you don't get them on a timely basis. I've been using computer generated floorplan software for a fairly long time (?a dozen or more years?), but a lot of agents can't/don't/don't know how. so they have to rely on an outside source which might cause a lag in getting a floorplan on your listing. Although I will also say that the big firms are not immune from the same issue, and one form which is "small is size but big in stature" I find myself CONSTANTLY being annoyed at their lack of floorplans on their listings. Personally, I find I HAVE to put up floorplans since I refuse to quote square footage (which has led to a whole bunch of very annoying discussions with idiot brokers).

No opportunity should be ignored because of broker representation. Having said that, as a non-broker, real estate junkie and owner on the UWS for many, many years. I would say sometimes the broker representation is a sign. I've noticed in a recent prewar conversion that has hit a snag, many listings have migrated from Corcoran and Elliman to Citi-Habitats and other smaller firms. So in this case we have a suddenly riskier building with broker representation migrating to smaller firms. At the same time, I've noticed a 26 year-old building that has long been considered a Class B or C condo with frequent representation by Bellmarc, get larger brokerage representation as it's West 96th Street and Broadway location becomes more appealing. Nearby, Ariel Condos, Whole Foods and subway station remodels has changed the perception of the area and the building is now perceived as a cheaper but worthy "fixer-upper".

Since buyers go to SE first, brokers at smaller firms have more visibility. Thanks, SE. Power to the people!

To my knowledge, Manhattan does not have the equivalent of a Multiple Listing Service where every property for sale in town is posted. So unfortunately buyers who want a huge selection still must visit a lot of websites!

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

Agreed 30 yrs. I should have made it clear that I was referring to agencies in Brooklyn, not Manhattan.

Is Cit-Habitats ok? I always thought they were one of the "to avoids".
Barak?
Phil Caban?

I myself always refer to Bellmarc as the "broker of last resort". Which sometimes means you can get a very good deal. The sellers have listed with one of the big ones (Corcoran, Elliman, etc), can't get their inflated asking prices, blame the brokers, then move to the smaller firms and reduce asking price in response to true market. (actually, that's how we bought our apartment0

how would you know? haven't you been ensconced in your 3,000 or is it 30,000 sq ft terraced pie in the sky forever? are you shopping?

http://nychousewhisperer.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-use-small-firm.html

I don't care who lists it, but it better have an address and a floorplan.