Bob Mitchell - Realtor St. Louis

Thanks for visiting our profile here on Activerain. I'm Bob Mitchell, president & founder of ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc., St. Louis' largest discount/full-service real estate and mortgage company and I'd like to tell you a bit more about us.

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc., was born at Cardwell's Bar in Clayton Missouri in 1994. At the time I was Vice-President of Clayton Mortgage Associates. Bill Beezley, who is president of Clayton Mortgage Associates, and I had stopped in for an after work cocktail. While there we met a mutual acquaintance who broached the subject of what would happen to a certain large St. Louis real estate company if somebody were to form a discount real estate company? His belief was that the larger company would implode into itself & be forced out of business.

At this point, our conversation was simply bar talk, but a seed of inspiration was planted in my mind. It was one of those moments where a light bulb went on. While the guy at the bar was not serious about forming such a company, the idea, with some modifications, was exploding in my head. That night I went home and couldn't sleep. All night long I was doing math on my bedroom ceiling. It seemed to me that if you took the vindictive nature out of the guy's idea & replaced it with a more positive approach to selling St. Louis real estate that it should be able to work!

In order to better explain why this idea had such appeal to me, allow me to provide some additional background. At Clayton Mortgage it was my responsibility whenever a transaction ran into difficulty to figure out what was wrong & to fix it. In that position I came to realize that more often than not, the root of most of the problems that these transactions were having laid at the foot of one of the real estate agents involved in the transaction. It dawned on me that real estate is the only 'profession' where you can go to school for three weeks, take a test and then call yourself a 'professional'. In other words, if you're too ill-tempered, ill-mannered & irresponsible to hold down a job anywhere else, you can always gravitate towards real estate. That's not to say that there aren't good St. Louis real estate agents out there who do a fine job, but the field definitely has too many people who simply don't know what they are doing.

Two other things that I noticed were: That after I fixed whatever problem the transaction had & the deal closed these same agents were collecting pretty good-sized commission checks. Secondly that the size of these checks wasn't commensurate with the amount of work that went into the transaction. Why was the commission for selling a $200,000 home twice what the commission for selling a $100,000 home was? Selling the $200,000.00 home usually wasn't any harder than selling the $100,000 home. As a matter of fact, it usually required less work.

So, these were some of the thoughts that were running through my head that night. Why was real estate sales structured the way that it was? Why did that certain large St. Louis real estate company have so many agents & so many offices? What were the economics of St. Louis real estate sales? What were the current cost structures of St. Louis real estate sales? Where were the inefficiencies? Where could St. Louis real estate sales be improved?

My conclusions, which I came to after several months of investigation, were that, not only could St. Louis real estate sales be done better but that they could be done at much less expense to the home-seller. With these conclusions in mind I decided to form ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

ValueList incorporated in November of 1995 & opened our doors shortly thereafter. ValueList is built around the concept of the flat-fee listing arrangement. The Flat-fee listing differs from a conventional listing where the home seller pays the real estate company a percentage commission (generally in the 6 ' 7 percent range). In the ValueList flat-fee listing the home seller only pays ValueList a flat-fee for the listing side of the real estate sales commission. If another agency sells the home, then the home seller pays that agency what would normally be the 'selling side' of the commission (generally around 2.7 - 3%).

Comparing the ValueList Flat-fee commission structure to a conventional Saint Louis real estate percentage commission structure, ValueList generally comes out to be around 35 to 55 percent less expensive.

Now in the event where the real estate company both lists & sells the property (an event that happens relatively infrequently) a conventional company would still charge the agreed to percentage. That is, even if the conventional real estate company doesn't have to split the commission with a cooperating agency, they still charge the home seller the full 6 to 7 percent. With the ValueList Flat-fee commission structure, ValueList only charges the flat-fee for the listing side of the transaction and a 'sales commission' equal to the listing fee. In this scenario ValueList is an even better deal!

One of the biggest questions that we receive at this point is, 'How can you guys be so much less expensive than your competition?' The answer to that question is related to the economics of the Saint Louis real estate market. First of all, historically the key to Saint Louis real estate sales has been the key to the home. Literally! It used to be that in order to sell a home a Saint Louis real estate agency had to be close enough to the home where an agent from another company could stop by the office and pick up the key in order to show the home to their client. That fact led to the development of the neighborhood real estate office. As time went on many successful real estate companies opened or purchased real estate offices in individual areas leading to some companies having as many as 39 real estate offices to service the St. Louis market. Quite frankly, with the advent of the computer, fax machines and computerized lock boxes, the idea of having all of these expensively decorated offices with managers earning hundred's of thousands of dollars a year is antiquated. Somebody has to pay for all of that overhead and guess what? That somebody is the home seller!

By keeping our overhead low we don't have to charge as much as other Saint Louis real estate companies. The other economic advantage that ValueList has is that we combine real estate services. In essence, ValueList utilizes the flat-fee listing arrangement as a 'loss-leader'. Very similar to when you go to a grocery store and they have eggs on sale. You know that they aren't making a whole bunch on the eggs, but the store is banking on the fact that while you are in the store to buy the eggs, that you will also pick up a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk! Well, with ValueList it's a similar concept. If you are selling a home, chances are that you will also be buying a home. ValueList will be glad to work with you in finding it.

When you find it, will you need a mortgage?

You will?

Have I mentioned that ValueList is also a full service VA approved mortgage lender? By combining real estate services, ValueList doesn't have to charge as much as our competition.

Now the next question that people often ask is, 'Alright, you're less expensive, but are you as good?'

This is an excellent question and the answer is, "No. We're better!'

This is true for several reasons. First, by combining real estate services it gives us more control of the transaction. We don't have to 'hand the ball off' to any other company. When we work with a buyer we control all aspects of the transaction. ValueList originates and processes the loan application for the buyer.

Secondly, having the background and ability to do mortgages gives us a level of technical competence superior to that of most, if not all, conventional Saint Louis real estate agents. Think of it this way, if you liken a real estate agent to being a general practitioner and a mortgage banker to being a heart surgeon, the heart surgeon could remove your ingrown toenail, but would you feel comfortable with a general practitioner performing open-heart surgery on you?

In the event where ValueList has a home listed and another agency sells it and uses a different lender, ValueList has the technical competence to hold that lender's feet to the fire. If they balk or hesitate for any reason, ValueList has the ability to ask the hard questions with the inside knowledge of how the mortgage banking business works. In many cases, if the lender still balks or hesitates, ValueList has the ability to take the loan process over and close the transaction. Very few other real estate agencies, no matter how big, can make this claim!

So, back to the story, since 1995 ValueList has grown to be the largest company of our kind in the St. Louis market. This is easy to say because we are the only company of our kind in the St. Louis market! While there are a couple of other discount real estate companies out there, none of them are 'full-service' companies. Most of the other discount real estate companies are based on a 'help you to sell' sort of model. That is, you show your own property (which puts you at a distinct disadvantage in selling your home), you field your own telephone calls and set your own appointments and in the event that you do sell your home, you are basically on your own in taking care of the details and getting the transaction to the closing table

ValueList is a full-service company. We do everything that a conventional St. Louis real estate company does including placing your home on the multiple listing service, placing and maintaining the yard sign, ValueList fields all telephone inquiries regarding your property, ValueList sets all appointments, helps you to negotiate all offers and once we have an accepted contract, ValueList takes care of all of the details required to get your transaction to closing! In short, ValueList IS a full service company! Also, the ValueList 'flat-fee' is a commission. It is paid at closing, there is nothing paid up front! If ValueList doesn't produce, ValueList doesn't get paid!

So this pretty much brings us up to date on the ValueList story. Thank you for taking the time to read it! If you have any questions or if any of the dedicated, ValueList real estate professionals can be of service in any manner, please do not hesitate to call us or to drop us a line. We very much look forward to serving all of your real estate and mortgage needs

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc. Mission Statement A corporation is by legal definition a legal entity. In a sense it is like a person. As a person has a character and hopes and dreams, so does a corporation. Below is an outline of the kind of 'person' that ValueList strives to be. As a person changes and grows over time, so will ValueList, therefore this mission statement is subject to change. It is the true desire of all of us at ValueList that these changes will always be positive and that ValueList will always be the best 'person' that it can be! As a corporation ValueList will; Always remember that behind each file or transaction are people, people who deserve to be respected and treated in an honorable fashion. Strive to help our customers, employees and vendors obtain their individual goals. Without surrender, be on good terms with all people. Never compromise with honesty. Remember that there is a difference between being honest and being forthright. Be involved in our community and seek to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Remember that there are three 'C's' in success, confidence, commitment and consistency. We will always strive to move forward and to grow keeping this spelling error in mind and in heart!

Here are some links to St. Louis Institutions that I hope that you find helpful:

St. Louis Post Dispatch Online St. Louis County Library St. Louis Cardinals Website St. Louis Zoo

Gateway Arch and Riverfront The St. Louis Rams St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission