Beach Cities Real Estate

Real Estate Broker David Schwartz opened Beach Cities Real Estate on the famous "Del Mar" main street in downtown San Clemente in August 2000. He and partner Sam Smith had "disruptive innovation" in mind for the real estate industry when they agreed to reduce commissions for all their clients to as low as $4,995.

By keeping our fees as low as $4,995, Beach Cities Real Estate set out to change the real estate worlds. "We are turning the old-fashioned broker commission structure upside down, " explains Schwartz. "What we've done is create a much easier and more fair way to sell homes. There's no doubt the public in general is fed up with outrageously-high commissions."

The two began digging up facts on the subject. A house in other parts of the country sells for an average of $140,000. The medium house for sale in Orange County is $256,000. A beach house in the Southern California beach communities sells at a much higher price approaching $1M. A simple commission comparison quickly demonstrates the inherent inequities: $8,400 for a home outside of California, $15,000 for an Orange County home, and $60,000 for a $1M beach property.

By guaranteeing fees as low as $4,995, Beach Cities Real Estate is offering homeowners a choice. In fact, the company has found its niche and has been digging up pay dirt for the past year.

Additionally, the ground shifted when the proprietary Multiple Listings Service (MLS) homes-for-sale data was sold to online real estate dot.coms. For the first time, consumers could access data never before available to them.

Now this information is a few mouse clicks away. Consumers are empowered to do much of the work the brokers used to do, and Beach Cities Real Estate is building a successful business.