Just wondering what other people think the most overpaid job is in the city?
I'm starting to think Real Estate sales people...they really don't add value...just suck up the money.
Please don't state they negotiate a better price for you. Negotiating is so easy and finding out the value range of your home, can be done in 15 minutes online. So I guess, you are paying thousands and thousands for a cookie cutter contract.
I thought this was timely
Today's rant section of CL Kelowna
Those Nasty Realtors
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Reply to:
pers-412574826@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-03, 1:02PM PDT
Ok , so I'm one of those people who have the dubious honour of choosing to be a realtor. For those of you who dont know, we rate on about the same level as lawyers on the popularity scale. We all know those vile creatures-realtors, they get paid enormous amounts of money to do practically nothing , and then take long vacations and drive expensive cars....
If you have personally had a bad experience with a realtor I dont really want to hear your horror story, but what I would like to do is clarify so of the misconceptions that you may have about us Realtors.
What other job do you know that you could go to work for hours and even days or weeks and not get paid at all. It would be like a doctor not getting paid until he actually cures your rash of unknown origins. He would pay for all your medications and tests and even the flight to the specialist, and if he didn't cure it he didn't get paid. Does that sound like a job that you would like to do? No?
How about if you went to work at the box factory and found out that you were going to work for an indeterminate amount of time and not get paid until the box actually sold to someone. That you might get paid less than you originally though because the purchaser of the box and your boss made a great deal, but since your boss has given away some of your money to make the deal go through, you are being asked to reduce your pay by 50%, Sounds like a great deal?NO?
Being a realtor is Expensive: between my car/ advertising/ office and desk fees /photocopying/ gifts to clients/ cell phone/ professional fees and insurance it cost me well into $35,000-$40,000 per year just to hang my shingle( PS my car is a used Chevy Malibu) This includes the cost of marketing homes that don't sell , those advertsing costs and time spent are not re-embursed by the sellers, remember I only get paid when the house Sells.
To become a realtor took several hundred hours of studying and courses and a three hour written exam , just to get started. After that there are additional continuing education courses every year, which I pay for myself.
Do you know how much a good realtor struggles with ethics and treating people fairly? Let me sit you down one day and discuss the issue of Agency which in essence obligates me for life to not divulge ANY informatin at ANY time to any buyer or other realtor that may compromise you position as a seller now or in the future, If you have been my client. Forever? yes forever. We are required to take an ethics course every two years just to stay up to date on the newest developements. Don't you wish lawyers were required to do the same?
Then there are the people who think they want 20% more for their place than the neighbours house sold for last week. Weeks go by and they can't figure out why they are not getting any showings, Trust me people its not the realtor, its the price. How many times do we as realtors hear : You just aren't advertising enough, you aren't working hard enough. What am I suppose to do? Lie to the buyers and tell them that the neighbours house next door didn't sell last month for 20% less? Buyers are not stupid. Trust me, we WANT your house to sell, cause we dont get paid unless it does.
If you want to sell your house quickly here are some general rules 1/ List close to what the realtor shows you it should sell for, don't try to find the one stupid buyer who is willing to pay more, there are lots of smart ones who are willing to pay market value 2/If your property is unclean or cluttered you will not get top dollar and it will take longer to sell. Buyers can't see past the mess. 3/ Do not try to hide faults, they will find them. 4/Buyers dont care about the new wallpaper you put up or that the toilet is new, they can see within 30 seconds whether they like the house. The new toilet in an otherwise unrenovated house is NOT value added. 5/It doesn't matter how much you pay the realtor. Really your focus should be on getting the most exposure to the most buyers, and DECIDING WITH YOUR REALTOR what you can expect in your pocket after the deal is done. Most Realtors are knowledgable and are not just making up numbers, they really do know what your house is worth. Whether you want to listen is up to you. Do you ask the Lawyer, Dentist or Doctor to take a pay cut so you can get more money in your pocket? No? 6/ Don't be surprised that a good realtor will walk away from your overpriced listing opportunity. Its matter of making the best use of time, I can't waste time on something that will NOT sell. I run a business , Not a charity. I SELL homes,not LIST homes. 7/Selling your home is business NOT personal. Getting all upset about a low opening offer is not a personal affrontand attack on you, it is an OPPORTUNITY to negotiate with an interested buyer, dont mess it up. A bird in the hand ... as they say. Did you KNOW? As a realtor I didn't try to sell my own home. Why? Because I could not be objective enough to negotiate a good deal for myself. I would not have negotiated as hard and been as persistant as my Realtor was. Sure I can draw up the papers and put up the sign , but there is more to it than that. I hired another Realtor and paid them and got more money in my pocket than I would have if I had done it myself. Realtors know people who know people who want to buy property. We have people walk in our doors everyday who want to buy property. Buyers want to work with realtors , it doesn't cost them anything to have a professional help them with their purchase. Licensed Realtors must adhere to a strict set of rules when negotiating with buyers and sellers, no false or misleading representations must be made or we could loose our licenses and our livelihoods. Most realtors are hard working professional with families to feed and mortgages to pay. You are paying me for RESULTS, the years of relationships I have worked hard to build with other realtors and their buyers, and my expertise in negotiating to your benefit. If you want to save few thousand dollars ,let me get that scalpel and your can start cutting right now. I dont want sympathy, this is just a rave , but maybe its helps you understand just bit more how "Those Nasty Realtors"" feel on a bad day.
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PostingID: 412574826
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