1) They may see big, flashy, persuasive full page ads in every glossy magazine.
2) They may see companies at every UK property show.
3) They may prefer a "big" national company.
4) They are offered free or highly subsidized inspection trips.
5) They are promised guaranteed rental income.
6) They see the heavy promotion of new homes.
7) They think it's important to have an in house property management company.
8) They want a company with a UK office.

Let us address those issues...

1) and 2) The reason that many of these companies can afford all this very expensive promotion, (which is way over budget for Dolby Properties, despite our being a very successful company), is that most of them sell expensive new homes at a very high commission and many of them are working closely with certain builders. This means that you will probably be shown a limited choice of expensive properties.

We have discovered that more than half of the companies with the full page ads in every UK magazine are actually personally unlicensed to sell real estate in Florida and are merely promoters living in the UK. Most of these actually know very little about our market. Living in the UK and owning a Florida villa does not make someone experienced enough to be able to help someone through the complexity of a Florida real estate transaction.
WHY BUY A FLORIDA PROPERTY THROUGH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T LIVE HERE?
Of those that are licensed, many only have one or two people in the company, or have only just started up in business, but their marketing makes them appear as though they are bigger and very experienced.

Take a look through most of the ads and check out the websites. Who owns the company? Who is the Broker? Who are the agents? Can you verify their licences? (selling real estate in Florida without a license is illegal). To whom is the company accountable if anything goes wrong? Just because someone has a big promotional budget doesn't mean you are protected.

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?

DOLBY PROPERTIES is a fully licensed Real Estate Brokerage in Orlando, with fully licensed agents. Our website shows you exactly who we are, our licenses, our membership affiliations, our experience. We have tons of testimonials on our website from happy buyers and sellers. We are fully accountable to the Florida Real Estate Commission and to our local, State and national Realtor Associations. We only have one company name - what you see is what you get with us.

3) DOES SIZE REALLY MATTER? As mentioned above, you can't always tell if a company is big or not, unless you can check them out. Often, you will be surprised at just how small many companies are, despite the appearance in their ads. However, in the case of companies that ARE really big, perhaps with branch offices all over the US and maybe even the UK and hundreds of agents nationwide - how does that really help you when buying a property in the Disney area? Does the Broker of a huge company know how you are being handled by one of the hundreds of agents? Does the fact that a company sold thousands of properties from their offices all over the USA, or worldwide, help you when buying your Florida property? No! Most of the time, those offices are franchised and independently owned anyway. In fact, claims of being "the biggest", "the oldest", "the leading", "no one sells more than...", mean absolutely nothing in most cases, because more often than not, the actual office making that claim is only a smaller, independently owned brokerage hooked up with a big franchise name, which has no bearing on the experience and quality of that particular office. In fact, when an office does have a large amount of agents, usually only 10% of the agents are handling 90% of the business, as the average individual agent handles so few transactions. Do you really want that inexperience?

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?

DOLBY PROPERTIES has a very hands-on Broker and a strict company policy of personal service from all our agents. We believe there are only a handful of companies out there who work as hard as we do for our clients. Our after-sales service is second to none. We work for YOU. We are local and know all that is needed to make YOUR transaction go as smoothly as possible.

4) INSPECTION TRIPS - Remember the saying that there is no free lunch? Well if a company is offering you lots of freebies, you are very probably paying for it somehow. Most times, companies are able to give back a lot of money because you are buying certain properties that may not be the best deal for you. Many companies have an excellent relationship with a builder and so you will not be taken anywhere else but to that builder (and there is so much more out there - do you really want a limited choice?).

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?

DOLBY PROPERTIES will show you all types and prices of properties, new or resale, with absolutely no bias towards any Seller, builder or area. You will benefit from having more choice. We are only interested in helping you find the most suitable property for your personal circumstances and YOU are the one to determine that. Our professional services are at no cost to the Buyer, since the Seller's Listing Broker of any property shares his/her commission with us. Our extensive local knowledge and experience will save you more in the long run. We will not offer you handsome incentives now, only to leave you after the sale.

5) GUARANTEED INCOME - We hear all the time about companies offering guaranteed rental income. Again, there's no free lunch!

It's nice to think that an investment is guaranteed, but in reality, there are so many conditions to most of these programs and if you work out the numbers, you would very probably have been able to get the same amount of rental income anyway, because most of the guarantees are in the peak, highly rentable months. Many of these guarantees are also only on specific lots and specific homes, which much of the time are overpriced anyway.

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?

DOLBY PROPERTIES will show you how to market your own property, which will help you maximize your rental income. You don't need guarantees, if you use a common sense approach to investing in your rental business.

6) NEW HOMES - We hear many people tell us that they bought through someone else because they didn't think we sold new homes. DOLBY PROPERTIES SELLS NEW HOMES. It's just that we don't highly promote them, in comparison to other companies. We offer a total choice of everything available in our area and try and help you find the most suitable property for your personal circumstances. That may or may not be a new home. If you definitely want a new home, then there is absolutely no need to go to someone else to buy it. If you see a special offer from someone else for buying a new home, let us check it out and most times we will be able to offer you that very same thing.

However, if you are only going for a new home because everyone you speak to tells you not to buy anything else, then you'll need to know WHY most UK promoters heavily promote new homes. They will tell you that it's difficult to rent out resale homes; that building codes are much better now than 5 or more years ago; that Americans prefer new homes and so it will be difficult to resell an "older" home and all sorts of other reasons why you shouldn't consider a resale. These are simply untrue statements and are often said because there is usually more commission to be made when selling new homes. The main reason for these untrue statements is actually because new homes are the only thing that many UK companies CAN sell in Florida. You have to be properly licensed by the State of Florida to sell real estate in Florida, except for new homes, where builders will actually pay commissions to unlicensed people in the UK! That is one very good reason to suspect someone who pressures you into ONLY buying a new home.

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?

DOLBY PROPERTIES can do the same thing that anyone else can do - only better than most! As Realtors, we have the same access to all available properties as every other Realtor. It's just a matter of choosing one Realtor to work with - someone you can trust to work for YOU and keep on looking out for you long after the sale is completed. DOLBY PROPERTIES is that Realtor!

7) PROPERTY MANAGEMENT - Why would you only want to buy through someone who has an in-house property management company?

We are Realtors, real estate is our ONLY business and we are very good at it. We always help you, our Buyer get set up with the right property management company for you and you have a choice. If you buy through a company who IS a property management company, you have no choice. Who says they are a good property management company anyway? Of the hundreds of property management companies in our area, we would not recommend but a handful of them. A large majority of management companies are owned and run by UK citizens who movied out here, using the property management company as a way to get into the US. They then got a real estate license as additional income. Are you sure that the person you are dealing with is legally here in the US? Even if someone living in the UK has a Florida real estate license, they are more than likely not legally allowed to work here in the US.

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?

DOLBY PROPERTIES is an American company. All of our agents are legally here and are either American citizens or married to an American citizen. Real estate is our only business and we take our business very seriously.

8) UK OFFICE - Is working with someone who has a UK office necessarily of great benefit to you? If you are in the north of England and the office is in the south, do you have any more control over the situation than by calling us in Orlando? Do you even know where that UK number or office is?

Do these people respond to e-mails promptly and does having a UK office help with the sale of a property in Orlando?
WHY BUY A FLORIDA PROPERTY THROUGH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T LIVE HERE?

WHO IS LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?

DOLBY PROPERTIES has a policy of responding very promptly to e-mails and we have been very successful for years in working with UK residents, mainly via e-mail. We are not afraid to pick up the phone and call YOU, so no need to worry. In any case, even if you have to call us from the UK, it is probably no more expensive than your long distance calls within the UK!

So, now that you have no reason not to work with DOLBY PROPERTIES, let us hear from you!
E-mail us at lesley.dolby@dolbyproperties.com

WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU!