there will always be room for rainmakers. Regardless of someone doing something cheaper. Lets face it. The public can use a discount broker if they choose, but the discount broker does not attract the agents who have serious closing ability due to the lack of potential pay. The way that society works is this. The public will use the best thing for themself. If something better comes along that will be the new standard. We have wheels on our cars because there is nothing better to put on the four corners of the car. If there were, we would not have wheels. Agents are wheels

Some of the most successful agents in my area work for discount/flat fee brokers. They close just fine and are more geared toward buyers than listings. It's a business model choice which is partly effected by location/competition.

And you're absolutly right - things operate the way they do because something better has yet to come along. The consumer will determine what is better... not the agent. Once they get more educated on the process they will be in a position to better understand the costs involved and the cost/benefit of various offers. Right now... in many area of the country... things still operate the old fashion way.

From a big-picture perspective it is far easier to convince a consumer that they can pay less for services than more... regardless of how skilled a salesman think they may be. Put a media company or mortgage company behind that and change is coming. Better buy a few cans of fix-a-flat to have on hand.

Broker

I suspect the respa violation may be the cost of advertising that the newspaper gives to the brokerage, if any. If I ran the same ads, etc. I would use that $2000 up rather quickly. So I suspect no level playing field by the newspaper. They are two separate entities and I believe not exempt because of common ownership.

But I would treat them the same as any other discounter and make sure my client gets any supposed savings.

commissions are negotiated, jsut like everything else.....92% of the listings on my mls are at a 2.5% co-op. I make an assumption that the listings are 5% since most brokers split 50/50. i know a few dont, but the co-op is the only thing that i can use to make an educated guess on total commission. due to my skill as a salesman my fee is higher than the other 92%. I bring more value and people see that. lucky wrote a quote on his thread...i liked it....something about average is the best of the worst and the worst of the best...lets face it, the majority of a true competitors competition is average!

gearing a business more towards buyers limits what can be done.....no one can argue that it takes more time to work a buyer side of a transaction than a seller side. if anyone does want to argue that, please, let me hear your side.

I see that you highlighted a certain section in red. Do you really beleive that if a major media company came in and offered to sell houses in your market for $2,500, advertising the heck out of them, (say a 150k house) that consumers would view you as having more skill and pay you $8,000 or so for the same job?

Yeah I know of a lot of no name mortgage brokers that are realtors as well

Of course then again..what is a name broker?:)

When looking at the trends of if there will be more or less agents in 5 years I am going to say less. I say this because of not only the current economic situation but for the fact that many people got into real estate in the past few years don't really understand the market. In the 90's and 00's it seemed like anyone could be a Realtor as long as you had a little capital to get yourself started. But what everyone didn't want to realize is that housing prices could not continue to go up forever. That is why many "Realtors" and banks got stuck with their hands in the cookie jar. When you keep taking on risk but not realizing the severity of it, it is only a matter of time before the walls come tumbling down. Therefore the growing trend of anyone can be a real estate agent I feel is starting to decline.

Myles Weisman


www.homesforsaleinsandiego.com

I see that you highlighted a certain section in red. Do you really beleive that if a major flat fee listing company came in and offered to sell houses in your market for $500 or less, advertising the heck out of them, (say a 150k house) that consumers would view you as having more skill and pay you $8,000 or so for the same job?


I reworded your post. this is already reality and they pick me time and time again. no worries here. some can sell and some can't

imagine if real estate sales agents had to apply for the job and were hired based on their sales ability? how many agents would we have? this is a sales position. some don't like to think that it is, but this is a sales business.