There’s a post on Active Rain right now that is getting bombarded by the people at housing panic. The post is about an agent that will not cut her commission and the comments are worth taking a look.
When we blog, our goal is to create business, our goal should be to open up dialogue and discussion and THAT is the beauty of blogging.
On a side note……I could also tell you that I don’t accept foul language or offensive comments on my blog and those will be zapped. There is nothing healthier than good discussion without personal attacks and name calling.
So here is a scenario where the consumer is letting us know how they feel and the response from most agents is to get defensive or ignore them but no one has addressed their questions…..how do you, as a real estate agent, justify your commission?
For some agents the answer will be simple: I don’t have to justify my commission, my clients don’t expect me to and they are happy to pay for my services.
What it boils down to, in this world of information, is that there will be different real estate models for different people. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
- If the consumer thinks that they can do the job and do a FSBO – go for it!
- If the consumer thinks that they can do part of the job and does not want to pay a complete commission – go for it!
- If the consumer thinks that they don’t have time to handle all the details that are involved and sees value in hiring a full-service Realtor – go for it!
I can tell you that I will not work with someone that does not see value in what I do; before starting our business relationship, where both will have active parts, we would be starting on the wrong foot.
A lot of the discussion went into the direction of the unethical reputation of the real estate industry and the low education standards. We’ve discussed those in length here in Agent Genius and sadly enough, I agree with most of their points.
- A lot of real estate agents don’t bring value to the table – true
- A lot of real estate agents don’t know right from wrong – true
- The one week education requirement is not enough – true
Then the discussion takes an interesting turn with Brian Brady’s post HousingPanic ALMOST Got It Right: How To Overcome Commodization By Employing The Dollarization Discipline.
I will end saying that there are plenty of real estate agents that are educated, are ethical and bring plenty of value to the table. We are out there showing our competence on a daily basis and for those that don’t want to work with us, we totally understand, it’s their choice. There are plenty of real estate models out there and the consumer does have a choice.
