After becoming a licensed real estate agent in 2005, VerraTerra founder James Hsu spent the next four years working under the guidance of two big-name brokerages and became an expert on how things were done in the real estate industry. However, he found himself constantly questioning the purpose and effectiveness of everything he was told, and rarely getting a straight answer. In early 2009, he decided to seek the answers on his own and founded VerraTerra. At VerraTerra, we’re doing things differently. We took a hard look at the traditional methods and costs involved in buying and selling real estate and asked, “does this still work today?” Our findings ultimately became the foundation for our service offerings and the basis of our pricing structure. Our research revealed many flaws that currently exist in the real estate industry. First, we have realized that traditional marketing methods such as newspapers, magazines and open houses are extremely ineffective in today’s technologically driven world, and simultaneously, very costly and inefficient. Second, the quality of marketing has much room for improvement and should focus more on the property itself. A majority of marketing is heavily focused on drawing attention to the agent and listing company rather than the property it is meant to advertise. Third, in most cases, we find it difficult to justify the traditional percentage based costs associated with buying or selling real estate. Real estate practices are not keeping up with the changing times. Technological advances, economic changes, and the needs of the consumer are vastly different than they were even 5 years ago and yet the traditional commission and marketing practices have remained constant. It’s time for a real estate company that makes sense! We’d like to introduce to you the VerraTerra way. We offer two service plans for home sellers and two for home buyers. These represent our answers to the flaws we found within the industry.