No question that commssions have essentially doubled but the number of individuals chasing has also doubled. I know, I know…thats no excuse and why should you care but unless quality people in this business can earn a good living you won’t have quality people in this business. A good commissioned sales person is worth $100,000 easily in any industry particularly one handling transactions of this magnitude. Given the current structure that makes us all independent contractors that translates to earning about $150,000 in net commissions to be comparable to a sales person employed by a corporation. I can tell you without question that far less than 10% of agents earn this. Now that sales volume is down there will be an inevitable shake out among our ranks.

The bubble in RE agents means that per agent earnings havent changed all that much on average. With longer selling times, marketing costs rise and the risk of not getting paid (i.e. selling your listings) increases. There is definitely room for some improvment in selling costs for consumers but there is only so much volume an agent can handle before the quality of service falls below a level I would not accept. I’m sure there will eventually be a better model but my belief is it wont happen anytime soon so you are left with 3 options: accept the current system, try to beat the system on your own or don’t participate.