I agree with some of what you say. Some I don’t…

I didn’t call out this specific agent for the very thing the first commenter (”Anonymous”) accused me of. I don’t want people to think I need to put down other agents to make myself look better. Also, you can not be a successful real estate agent without cooperating with other agents, no matter what their competence level may be. Calling out specific agents in a public forum is a good way to piss off many in the community, many that I will need to work with at some point to best serve my clients. Be that right or wrong, it is what it is.

The point I tried to make was ALL real estate sellers need to review what their agent is doing for them. Should they HAVE to do that? Absolutely not. But the sad fact is, they need to, due to some of the reasons you state.

I disagree completely that, “Agents are largely useless to the entire process in the first place”. A good agent can save their clients, be they buyers or sellers tens of thousands of dollars more than whatever the commission collected may be. In fact, a good agent can (and we have) keep someone from entering into a real estate transaction that may cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

An example: we had a buyer client that desperately wanted a $223,000 condo. They wanted to “save” $300 and skip the home inspection. We pulled out all the stops and educated them on why a pre-purchase home inspection is so important. Finally they relented and got their dream home inspected. Good thing too as the inspector found serious structural damage from a previous fire that rendered the home unsafe and would cost more to repair than leveling and rebuilding the home.

Now could these clients have educated themselves well enough without us to realize the huge liability and risk they were taking by skipping an inspection? Sure. If they’d have even known to look into it. But maybe not. Our experience with past home inspections, and the trust we’d built with these clients allowed us to demonstrate the importance. I’m fully convinced that had these clients not used us (or another good Realtor) they’d now be living in an uninsurable, unsafe home. Even if nothing did happen to the home, they might find themselves unable to ever sell it as the next buyer might just get that inspection. That’s the situation the current seller is in. He bought the unit from a FSBO, “saved” the inspection fee, “saved” commissions, and now is the proud owner of a home that can’t be sold.

By the way, very few Realtors make 6% commission on the sale of a home. I hear this, “No Realtor is worth 6%” comment all the time. What many people seem to fail to understand is that the commission on the sale of a home is split between the buyers agent and the sellers agent. What the individual agents get is then split in some ratio between themselves and their broker. And there are also corporate franchise fees. And of course marketing expenses, board and association expenses, etc. It’s simply untrue to think an agent receives 6% profit on the sale of every home. Yes, you can make a good living selling real estate. You can work your ass off too and make nothing.

I bought and sold many homes before I became a real estate agent. I’ll freely admit that seeing that commission amount on the closing documents was painful. Yes, it’s a lot of money. But it doesn’t all go into the agents pocket. And if you spend $15K in commission but get $20K more for your home, is that such a bad thing?

I’ll probably never convince you that an agent can be worth the commission they earn, and that’s fine. We’re all entitled to our opinion.

Now I couldn’t agree more that it’s too easy to get a license. I’ve said the same thing here more then once:

http://www.phoenixrealestategu.....he-bar/138

And the stupid ads? I’ve had stronger words for them than “stupid”…

A client should not have to ask for the MLS listing (though smart people do), the agent should be required by law to properly enter the MLS and properly market the home, or have their all too easy to obtain license revoked for good.

This industry has gotten away with self regulation (read: no regulation) for far too long. This is an unethical, low standards industry that any moron with an hour to study for a simple test can get licensed to. It attracts the lazy yet opportunistic. That needs to change. Buying a house is such a huge part of a persons life that becoming a realtor should be as involved as becoming a lawyer. Perhaps then we can talk 6%.

Are there good, ethical realtors out there? Of course. But they are the minority. If you think I am wrong thats fine. But understand that my opinion is shared by the overwhelming majority of the public. Maybe instead of putting insincere, stupid ads of TV talking about how “ethical” realtors are, your industry should actually become ethical.

Why clients aren’t asking for this on a regular occasion, I’ll never know.

First, no I don’t have to “slam” other agents to make myself look good. I’m sure you noticed that I blocked out the listing agent’s info.

Second, your hypothesis that the listing agent was too busy to do their job and enter all of the info at the time they placed the listing doesn’t hold up well (at all) when you consider that the listing was entered 152 days ago….

Third, I’ve said on this blog several times that there are many excellent agents out there. In fact, in the blog entry previous to this, where you also claim I’m attacking other agents, I said, “And there are many many great agents out there”.

What’s my problem? My problem is agents that don’t do their job. There are a lot of people out there that don’t understand/know everything they need to affect a good real estate transaction. Our fundamental job as agents is to ensure our clients get everything they need, and to educate them, to ensure a successful transaction. Listings like shown here, and practices by agents outlined in the previous post certainly don’t come close to meeting the minimum functions of a real estate agent. People deserve better.

If by writing posts like this I can help just one person understand what their agent should be doing for them, then I’ll keep writing them.

The most atrocious cases I see are of vacant properties where the seller can not be contacted. You see these properties expire every day.