Click for full size imageWho needs a real estate agent after all? They take a hefty commission in the area of 6% of your property value and really don't do any work for that at all.
Just imagine this. You are selling a $10 million luxury home in Aspen and are asked to spend $500k in agent fees. That is a lot of money, for what? It surely can not cost that much to advertise the property. The agent writes the listing contract, snaps a few photos, enters the listing into the MLS and hopes and waits for an offer to come in. Does not sound like I would want to spend that kind of money for that. Hell NO.
And what qualification does the average real estate agent bring to the table? He passed a simple real estate exam that anybody with half decent reading skills will pass after a week or so of learning. Hardly a qualification, more like a weeding out of the bottom 5%. The problem is it still leaves 95% of all possible agents to muddy the water. So what qualifies a real estate agent? He has a drink in a bar and gets to know you and finds out about your real estate interest. Great qualification. Or he turns out to be your ski instructor and does real estate on the side. Yup, I would want spend millions of Dollars with the advice and assistance of a part time agent.
No what really makes a real estate agent earn his money is the great effort that it takes to type up a contract. With about 14 pages in length that is about $100k per page for a $10 million sale. Sounds fair doesn’t it? So if you ask me to hell with paying commission. Better ask your agent next time why he thinks he deserves your money. I bet the answer will not be very bright. And while you are at it ask what qualifications he brings to the job, bar tending does not qualify.
You can see that I just about had it with the mumbo jumbo of sweet marketing talk. I would want hard facts, not the “I am so great because I have all these rich friend that buy houses all the time”. What is the differentiating factor? Why are you different from the next agent around the corner?
Go ahead ask me these questions. I think you deserve an answer !