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Ok, Realtors, time to take a good look at ourselves. Just look at so many posts on this forum and many others. People look at working with Realtors with the same attitude as a dentist, "don't want to use one, but I better."
How do we, as an industry, change the buying and selling public's perception from getting a root canal to that of a Starbucks and celebrating friendships and value?
It depends on whether you are talking about perception or reality. I think NAR does a terrible job at shaping perception although they do try. If you are talking about reality, there are already many levels of safeguard for the public (from law to ethics to education) but all industries have participants with varying levels of competency and those whom we can call "ethically challenged." It is up to all of us to hold each other to that higher level but it rarely happens, I think.
The real problem, though, is the compensation system. People will always wonder if the compensation system worked against their interests in some way.
I think the problem is with commissions being based on the behaviors of the average seller and the average buyer.
Imagine that you are a seller who makes sure the house is in top condition when it is put on the market. In theory the house will sell more quickly so it might be less work for the realtor. Compare to an owner who either chooses not to or cannot afford to make cosmetic improvements on the house--that house may take a long time to sell and capture a lot more of the agent's time. Ditto with buyers. There is the buyer who is really ready to buy and knows what he is looking for (but willing to compromise) vs. the PIA buyer who is just tire kicking or who has unrealistic expectations and somehow takes up tons of the agent's energy. As a result, the 'ideal' seller and the 'ideal' buyer somehow feel they are balancing out the less accommodating clients.
Last edited by luv4horses; 11-17-2012 at 02:03 PM..
Reason: typo
Okay. As someone who has realtors in my family, worked with realtors selling and buying houses, and having worked with realtors in the marketing of literally dozens of developments, I'll give you my two cents:
1) 90% of realtors do it as a hobby. Something they can do in their spare time between dropping off kids at school and whatever else. Because of this, many just aren't that committed to working on their client's behalf. In my market, the attrition rate among realtors is roughly 33% a year.
2) Because of the hobbyist attitude of many realtors, those 90% are uncommitted to the business which makes them lazy and unimaginative. They don't work especially hard to market the property in question. They don't continually try to find new mortgage lenders, appraisers, and the whatnot. They typically bounce around in their comfort zone, which is typically a 2-3 mile radius of where they live.
As a sidebar to that, ever walk into a realty office at 9 a.m. in the morning? Unless there's a mandatory sales meeting, you could shoot a gun through the place. If I am giving a realtor a commission of $20,000-$30,000 to sell my house, I'd like to think that she is busting it to make sure my home is looking good on the multiple listing sites and that the home's value is maximized in the eyes of the homebuyer. I'd want an opinion on what it will take to move quickly (And, no, dropping the price shouldn't be the first option). I'd want that person to be putting my house on tours. In other words, earn the money.
In that same real estate office at 9 a.m. however, the people on the desks, working the phones and assembling the reports are the ones who typically are on the top of the listings.
3) Listing realtors are particularly susceptible to this: If a house doesn't sell immediately, the first thing they want to do is DROP THE PRICE. Here's the thing. Selling isn't just about making a deal. Selling is about maximizing value in the buyer's mind. To be sure, I recognize that initial listing prices can often be unrealistic based on the insistence of the home owner. But at the same time, it is the duty of the agent to fight for the asking price, not just capitulate if they aren't snowed under with offers in the first 24 hours.
4) The endless self-aggrandizement. A few years ago, some idiots making a fast buck decided to put on 'marketing' seminars to help real estate agents grow their client base. So now, every apprentice real estate agent on the planet puts their photos on business cards, real estate ads, and bus stops without ever thinking for a second how creepy it makes them look. Yet the top agents don't have to resort to those kind of shenanigans. They just have built a great reputation for generating value for buyers and sellers alike.
Realtors can be too pushy with banks. I had an Associate Broker's license for 25 years, though I didn't do a lot in the field. The other realtors were too mean and greedy.
Okay. As someone who has realtors in my family, worked with realtors selling and buying houses, and having worked with realtors in the marketing of literally dozens of developments, I'll give you my two cents:
1) 90% of realtors do it as a hobby. Something they can do in their spare time between dropping off kids at school and whatever else. Because of this, many just aren't that committed to working on their client's behalf. In my market, the attrition rate among realtors is roughly 33% a year.
2) Because of the hobbyist attitude of many realtors, those 90% are uncommitted to the business which makes them lazy and unimaginative. They don't work especially hard to market the property in question. They don't continually try to find new mortgage lenders, appraisers, and the whatnot. They typically bounce around in their comfort zone, which is typically a 2-3 mile radius of where they live.
As a sidebar to that, ever walk into a realty office at 9 a.m. in the morning? Unless there's a mandatory sales meeting, you could shoot a gun through the place. If I am giving a realtor a commission of $20,000-$30,000 to sell my house, I'd like to think that she is busting it to make sure my home is looking good on the multiple listing sites and that the home's value is maximized in the eyes of the homebuyer. I'd want an opinion on what it will take to move quickly (And, no, dropping the price shouldn't be the first option). I'd want that person to be putting my house on tours. In other words, earn the money.
In that same real estate office at 9 a.m. however, the people on the desks, working the phones and assembling the reports are the ones who typically are on the top of the listings.
3) Listing realtors are particularly susceptible to this: If a house doesn't sell immediately, the first thing they want to do is DROP THE PRICE. Here's the thing. Selling isn't just about making a deal. Selling is about maximizing value in the buyer's mind. To be sure, I recognize that initial listing prices can often be unrealistic based on the insistence of the home owner. But at the same time, it is the duty of the agent to fight for the asking price, not just capitulate if they aren't snowed under with offers in the first 24 hours.
4) The endless self-aggrandizement. A few years ago, some idiots making a fast buck decided to put on 'marketing' seminars to help real estate agents grow their client base. So now, every apprentice real estate agent on the planet puts their photos on business cards, real estate ads, and bus stops without ever thinking for a second how creepy it makes them look. Yet the top agents don't have to resort to those kind of shenanigans. They just have built a great reputation for generating value for buyers and sellers alike.
Okay. As someone who has realtors in my family, worked with realtors selling and buying houses, and having worked with realtors in the marketing of literally dozens of developments, I'll give you my two cents:
1) 90% of realtors do it as a hobby. Something they can do in their spare time between dropping off kids at school and whatever else. Because of this, many just aren't that committed to working on their client's behalf. In my market, the attrition rate among realtors is roughly 33% a year.
2) Because of the hobbyist attitude of many realtors, those 90% are uncommitted to the business which makes them lazy and unimaginative. They don't work especially hard to market the property in question. They don't continually try to find new mortgage lenders, appraisers, and the whatnot. They typically bounce around in their comfort zone, which is typically a 2-3 mile radius of where they live.
As a sidebar to that, ever walk into a realty office at 9 a.m. in the morning? Unless there's a mandatory sales meeting, you could shoot a gun through the place. If I am giving a realtor a commission of $20,000-$30,000 to sell my house, I'd like to think that she is busting it to make sure my home is looking good on the multiple listing sites and that the home's value is maximized in the eyes of the homebuyer. I'd want an opinion on what it will take to move quickly (And, no, dropping the price shouldn't be the first option). I'd want that person to be putting my house on tours. In other words, earn the money.
In that same real estate office at 9 a.m. however, the people on the desks, working the phones and assembling the reports are the ones who typically are on the top of the listings.
3) Listing realtors are particularly susceptible to this: If a house doesn't sell immediately, the first thing they want to do is DROP THE PRICE. Here's the thing. Selling isn't just about making a deal. Selling is about maximizing value in the buyer's mind. To be sure, I recognize that initial listing prices can often be unrealistic based on the insistence of the home owner. But at the same time, it is the duty of the agent to fight for the asking price, not just capitulate if they aren't snowed under with offers in the first 24 hours.
4) The endless self-aggrandizement. A few years ago, some idiots making a fast buck decided to put on 'marketing' seminars to help real estate agents grow their client base. So now, every apprentice real estate agent on the planet puts their photos on business cards, real estate ads, and bus stops without ever thinking for a second how creepy it makes them look. Yet the top agents don't have to resort to those kind of shenanigans. They just have built a great reputation for generating value for buyers and sellers alike.
Well,one thing for certain, my understanding of you and people out there with your opinion was real. I can throw a lot of bunk on most of what you have preceived. Sadly, I can't on all of it, and that is what had and still has me concerned.
Thank you for sharing!
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