re: Article: There are way too many real-estate agents

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Tell me where the mean real estate agent touched you.

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I work in a different tax bracket Mr. Real Estate agent.

How many of them are upper middle class white women that don't want to teach or be a nurse anymore?

I have sold and bought 3 homes in my life all without an agent. It’s not overly complicated as long as you do your research on what documents are needed. People get real estate agents because they are lazy. It’s their money though, and the stupidest thing of all is the commission % based upon a homes value even though they do the same amount of “work” on a 200k house they would do on a 500k house.

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Sometimes I ask how many deals they have closed in the last year. 1-3 is a common answer.

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That's a rude f'n question on your part. It's none of your f'n business.

I'm surprised people even answer you.

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That's a rude f'n question on your part. It's none of your f'n business.

I'm surprised people even answer you.

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not rude at all. Maybe not the best question to determine "quality", but still a valid one.

How many deals they've closed is valid in the sense that it drives at are they doing the Realtor thing as a hobby or as a profession.

I wouldn't consider it a good/quality question because what if yes, they've only done 3 deals and they were commercial in hot areas over 1 million with all sorts of problems.

What if yes, they've only done 3 because they did quality work for 30 years and now only take on very specific listings.

Then again, those 3 might have $40k trailers that were cookie cutter. That question doesn't get to the heart of the matter...

... the heart of the matter is:
A) what are you going to different than everybody else to make my house stand out?
B) X, Y, and Z are anticipated problems (e.g. roof is 20 yrs old)... advise me on how we are going to handle that as faar as pricing and/or inspection-repair
C) if we have a problem with L, M, or N (e.g. buyer's lender requires survey) how are we going to handle that and will you be doing the scheduling?

ETA: by the way, in sales/marketing such questions as "how many clients do you have" or "how many deals have you closed" is often an [inadvertant] trap question. You don't know what their real question is or what their expectations are. If you answer '10', maybe they think that number is too low and it is a measure of how poor your work is. Maybe they think that number is too high and you won't be able to devote enough time to them. The response should be "why do you ask?". Then address their real issue/question.

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Commissions are transparently too high. Realtors used to provide a very valuable service in finding houses. The internet has made listings available and searchable to all. Commissions should have come down to reflect the devaluing of that service.

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This is the problem that realtors in general need to address if you think you're paying them for showing you houses. That might have been the case 20 years ago but that's not why you're paying what you're paying today. The money is earned in the negotiation and contracting. What you might not know is that the way these contracts are written can have a massive impact on both sides bottom line. I know, I know...copy/paste and all that...but it's simply not true for the majority of transactions. You can believe whatever you would like about this, but it can cost either side or both sides a lot of money not just in the offer/acceptance, but in the negotiation of the repairs. I've already said it above, but the vast majority of buyers and sellers have no idea how the process works and the pitfall involved.

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Will be interesting to see how the class action case plays out. The data is pretty compelling that listings with lower broker fees sit longer on the market, suggesting a level of industry wide collusion.

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You can't have it both ways, you said in the first paragraph that the buyer was driving the decision on which properties they would like to see because the internet has made listings available and searchable to all. Can the agent steer them away from that property? Possibly. The number of times that happens is not zero...but it's a waste of time for agents to steer customers away from potential properties. Maybe shitting realtors that do 5 transactions a year could afford to do this, but the good ones don't have time to waste on nonsense like that. The name of the game is volume. Buyers are picky and you would never want to artificially steer a client away from a property. The more houses you get under contract the more money they make.

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Don’t kid yourself, they care about 1 thing only: collecting a commission check.

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Let me ask you a question Baw. Do you care about collecting a paycheck for work you do?

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Yep. The market will correct itself.

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always does, same thing with real estate appraisers, inspectors, and land men

There’s like 1500 real estate agents just in St Tammany Parish. However, as slow as this market is I would expect a large amount to opt out.

In my 4 real estate transactions the only time I needed an agent is when I was moving and not around to deal with showings. She did a great job and it was worth it for her to handle everything a few states away.