Edisto Realty Review: Is it Worth It?

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By Steven Porrello Updated February 24, 2023

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Edisto Realty Review

Overall rating | Customer experience | Agent quality | Brand visibility and reach | Service value | Locations | Methodology

✍️ Why trust us: We strive to provide objective recommendations and advice. Learn more about how we research.
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Founded in the early 1970s, Edisto Realty is a full-service brokerage that specializes in beachfront and vacation homes. With seven agents and two offices, the brokerage is one of the most well-known and established real estate companies in Edisto Beach, South Carolina.

If you’re looking to buy or sell a home around Edisto Beach, this brokerage might seem like a good choice for you. Below we’ll analyze Edisto Realty in four key areas and help you decide.

Bottom line: Do we recommend Edisto Realty?

We think Edisto Realty is a good deal, but you should still shop around to find the best brokerage for you.

Scoring the highest among our four criteria is the quality of Edisto Realty’s agents. We were surprised they had an average of 26 years of experience among them (three times higher than the industry median of eight), with each agent completing roughly 14 transactions per year. That said, these numbers were based on information we found on Zillow for four agents and might not be comprehensive.

The brokerage advertises itself as a "full-service realty," which means sellers will get all the basic services they’d expect. Customer reviews on Edisto Realty were noticeably lacking, with only 5 reviews on third-party sites and none on the Better Business Bureau.

Even though Edisto Realty seems like a decent deal, we still recommend interviewing at least two to three agents from different brokerages. The most important thing is the agent, not the brand. To ensure you’re getting the best fit, compare Edisto Realty with similar brokerages in the same area.

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Edisto Realty: Our in-depth breakdown

Reputation and customer experience

📊 Our rating: 4.5/5

  • Aggregate customer rating of 4.5 but based on 5 reviews
  • No complaints with the Better Business Bureau
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All in all, the reviews on Edisto Realty’s real estate sales were fairly good, even though the sample size was small.

After looking on Google, Zillow, and Realtor.com, we found only 5 reviews for 2 different agents from the company. The aggregate customer rating for these 5 reviews was a 4.5 — not bad, but not exceptional either.

That said, the reviews on Edisto Realty’s rental services weren’t lacking: around 232 reviews on Google alone. The aggregate rating for these reviews was a 4.3, which is very high compared to similar brokerages that offer rental services. Of course, these reviews are coming from renters and vacationers, not buyers or sellers, and may not speak to the quality of their real estate team.

After looking through the 5 reviews on their agents, we decided to run them through a program that identifies emotional language. The sample size was too small to get conclusive data, but overall we found a majority of positive sentiments. There weren't any complaints with the Better Business Bureau, but also no positive reviews.

Note: Many clients will use third-party review sites to complain rather than give positive feedback. Take what you read on these sites with a grain of salt, as they might not be indicative of the company’s service.
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Agent quality

📊 Our rating: 5.0/5

  • Agents have on average 26 years of experience
  • Brokerage has completed 57 transactions in last 12 months, or 14 transactions per agent
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The average agent quality at Edisto Realty is exceptionally good.

Edisto Realty has a small team: fewer than 10 agents, according to the website. The four agents who listed their experience on Realtor.com or Zillow have an average of 26 years of experience working in the field. That’s more than three times the industry median of eight years, which is impressively high for a brokerage of this size.

The brokerage has completed 57 transactions in the past 12 months, according to Zillow Reports from 4 agents. That comes out to around 14 transactions per agent, which is higher than the industry average of 12.

In sum, the agents at Edisto Realty are of excellent stock and will likely know the Edisto Beach market very well. Even so, you should still interview an Edisto agent thoroughly to see if they’re the right fit for you. Ask them for their sales numbers, references from past clients, and how they can help you specifically buy or sell a home.

Brand reach and visibility

📊 Our rating: 4.0/5

  • Decent website traffic
  • Tight-knit local network
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The Edisto Realty website is very basic and can be difficult to navigate. That said, roughly 12,000 people search "Edisto Realty" and other branded terms on Google each month. According to our analytics tool, the website gets over 18,300 visits every month, which isn’t bad for a brokerage of this size.

The website has around 33 active listings in Edisto Beach, which is only 2.35 miles across and serviced by only seven agents. A densely packed housing market is good for both buyers and sellers, as agents will likely connect listings with buyers faster.

Service value

📊 Our rating: 4.0/5

  • Buyers can browse listings and contact agents on Edisto’s webpage
  • Sellers get a basic brokerage services, but no extras
  • Fixed, high commission rates
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Based on what we can assess, Edisto Realty seems like a decent value, but not great.

The brokerage advertises itself as a "modern, full-service realty company." Sellers can expect basic services from Edisto, like help pricing their home, listing it on the MLS, and possibly getting professional photographs. Home buyers can hire agents and for-sale properties directly from the Edisto Realty homepage.

But Edisto doesn’t have additional tools or resources, such as mortgage calculators or help with home inspections, nor do they offer common extras on their listings, like 3D walk-throughs.

One important thing to keep in mind: you’ll likely pay full commission for Edisto Realty, no matter what local competitive rates are. For reference, here are the averages for South Carolina markets.

» MORE: Average Commission Rates Across the U.S. 2022

💰 Top agents, big savings:

Clever’s free service matches you with top local realtors from the best brokerages (like John L. Scott) but negotiates big savings.

Sellers save thousands on listing fees. Buyers can get cash back after closing.

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Additional info about Edisto Realty

General contact info (corporate office)

📍 Address 1405 Palmetto Blvd.

Edisto Island, SC 29438

☎️ Phone (843) 869-2527
📱 Social media Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

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Other Edisto Realty services

This review is focused on Edisto Realty's core real estate agent service. If you’re interested in buying a rental property or having someone manage it, you can check out Edisto Realty's rental services here.

Next steps: Start interviewing agents!

Interview multiple agents (ideally two to three) to ensure you get the best fit and value. Remember: always hire the agent, not the brand. When you’re ready to start searching, check out our guide on how to choose the right real estate agent. Clever’s free agent-matching service makes agent shopping fast and easy, and it can save you money.

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  • Sellers get a pre-negotiated discount on listing fees (avg. seller savings is $9,600.)
  • Buyers can get a rebate after closing

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Rating methodology

We evaluate brokerages based on four core criteria we think will help readers make informed decisions. We broke those criteria down into discrete metrics so we could make the score as objective as possible. Here’s a quick breakdown of that criteria and methodology:

Customer experience

Do most people who work with this brokerage have a generally positive experience? Are there any red flags?

What we looked at:

  • Average customer ratings across various third-party review sites, like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Google
  • The content of those reviews, via sentiment analysis tools and manual reading, to pull out key positive and negative themes and summarize key risks and benefits
  • The Better Business Bureau profile for formal complaints

Overall agent quality

How strong is the agent team? What are the chances of ending up with a solid realtor that will meet different needs, preferences, and availability?

What we looked at:

  • Total number of agents vs. offices to gauge how wide the selection is
  • Average experience of the entire team, based on public agent data on sites like Realtor.com and Zillow
  • Average annual transactions per agent, sourced from RealTrends or brokerage-provided data, compared with the industry average

Visibility and reach

How much "brand power" does this brokerage have? Does it increase awareness and get more eyes on your listings, more showings, or quicker offers?

What we looked at:

  • Social media presence across all major consumer-facing social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram)
  • Online audience size through web traffic volume and monthly Google searches for the brand name
  • Marketing reach, like listings on all major MLSs and populator listing sites like Zillow and Realtor.com

Value and service quality

How does the brokerage compare with other conventional brokerages? How does it compare with the market rates for commission (~3% listing fees)? Are you getting too little, the right amount, or more service for the tentative fee?

What we looked at:

What we consider "full service" for a real estate brokerage:

  • Professional home valuation
  • Advice on how to stage your home
  • High-quality professional photography
  • Listing on a multiple listing service (MLS) and home-buying websites
  • Open house management
  • Negotiation
  • Assistance with paperwork

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