MIAMI-South Investment Property LLC, an independently owned and operated real estate brokerage in Miami, has joined the Irvine, CA-based Sperry Van Ness. “We decided to go with Sperry Van Ness because it is a unique brokerage network with a national platform,” says Matthew Rotolante, managing director at what is now the Miami office of Sperry Van Ness. “If we want to do business in New York or Texas,” that is possible with this system, says Rotolante, whose office brings eight brokers into the Sperry fold.

Executives at Sperry are also happy to have Rotolante’s brokerage firm become part of their operation. Not only did Jerry Anderson, executive managing director of SVN Florida, praise Rotolante’s abilities as a broker, he says that with the new franchise, there is no longer a void in Miami-Dade County.

But Sperry Van Ness is not just concerned about the bigger markets, such as Miami-Dade, says Anderson. On the contrary, he says, “When someone Googles ‘commercial real estate Florida,’ and www.svnflorida.com pops up, I want our team to be able to assist with local knowledge no matter the size or location of the market…” Sperry Van Ness covers more than just the major markets, says Anderson.

The big brokerage companies only handle 15% of commercial real estate transactions, says Rotolante. But brokers at these companies want to maximize their commissions because their overhead is so high, he says. Brokers at these large companies often don’t show their listings to everyone in the market, at least not initially, to avoid having to share commissions, Rotolante contends.

But at Sperry, says Rotolante, “The more prospects and the faster they are exposed to a property, the better the pricing for the seller or the landlord. Sperry Van Ness does this through a mandate that listed properties be marketed to the entire brokerage community and that brokerage fees be split 50/50 regardless,” of the effect of this practice on an individual broker's bottom line, he says.