How many vendors per trade belong on your list?
Put two or three vendors on your list per trade. One name leaves your client stuck when that roofer is booked for six weeks, and more than three hands them back the search they asked you to save them from. If you only trust one plumber, list one, and leave a trade empty before you fill it with a stranger.
How many vendors per category should be on a realtor vendor list?
Keep two or three for the trades your clients call often, one for the trades they rarely need, and none in place of a name you haven't checked. Start with plumbing, heating and cooling, roofing and home inspection, because a client with a burst pipe or an inspection deadline can't wait for one booked-up name to come free.
A chimney sweep or a well driller can be a single name. If a client asks for a trade you've left empty, say you don't have someone yet and ask around for them, which is better than a name you'd have to apologize for later. For the trades worth a row in the first place, see what to put on a realtor vendor list, and give each vendor a row of their own in the vendor list template.
Should you give clients one name or several?
Give several where you can. The client is the one who hires the vendor, and the FTC tells homeowners to get more than one written estimate before they choose, so two or three names let them do that without starting a new search. One name is fine when it's the only one you'd send your own family to.
The same advice holds for inspectors, and how to recommend a home inspector goes through it. If a trade is thin because you're new, see how to build a vendor network as a new agent.
How many lenders should be on a vendor list?
Put more than one. The CFPB tells buyers to get official loan offers from lenders and compare them, and a single lender's name on your list works against that advice. Two or three lenders who answer the phone on a Saturday give your buyer something real to compare.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission: How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Buying a house
Group your list by trade in Proferral
In Proferral, each provider you add to your list gets a trade, and your clients see your list grouped by those trades. The order inside a trade is yours to set, and no provider can pay to move up it.
It's free, no credit card needed, and you're never charged unless you choose Pro.