To all the agents in the house,
Many agents had great responses to my series on the past, present, and future of real estate commissions.
The series, which concluded with Part 3 Friday, revealed that U.S. real estate agents make a lot more money per home sale than agents in other countries, or other sales brokers in the U.S.
It also points out that there are almost 2 million agents in America, who vie for a big pay day in the form of a 2.5%-3% commission on a home sale side. And that buyer's agents are financially incentivized to find the most expensive homes with the biggest sales commissions.
In particular, I probably need to think more about (and hear more from you regarding) a couple of points.
One is the fiduciary duty of a buyer's agent.
"I'm a fiduciary as are all of my agents," commented Carol Weaver, an agent in Storm Lake, Iowa. "I am bound to do what is best for my client, regardless of whether it is best for my pocket."
The question I have: How ironclad is this duty?
Said Bruce Franklin, an agent in Portland, Oregon: "It has to be up to us as real estate professionals to not only strive to be as professional as possible but to refine and codify what is the standard for professionalism for ourselves in the much same way that is done in the law and medicine."
The other issue I'm wrestling is what you make. I almost regret citing the National Association of Realtors' figure that the median agent gets $49,200 a year, because I'm not sure what relevance it has on agent's specific situations.
If the maxim is true that 20% of agents do 80% of the work, what are those 20% getting per year? And what are the other 80% left with?
One commenter noted: "There are advertising costs, time costs and some transactions that never materialize, so not only have you spent time and money, you don't receive any compensation for a potentially long process that never develops into earning a commission."
Stated another: "Clients are frequently shocked to hear that I don't get a base salary, health care, or car allowance."
Would you prefer, then, being paid salaried or hourly?
Also, consider signing up for a group membership to get you and your team access to HW+ premium content at a reduced rate (click here to get more info).
Please keep writing: mblake@housingwire.com. Your anonymity is presumed.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
EmoticonEmoticon