The realtors I met on piggington are very smart; several are engineers. Bob Casagrand is a retired business executive, who turned around divisions of major US corporations in Europe and the US, and consulted in Saudi Arabia. I have 2 realtor friends, ladies, who are also intelligent. But I am sure there are many below average folks too, since the barrier of entry is low and the perception of easy money exists. I just have not met these people personally.

The low barriers to entry to the RE industry surely has allowed some lesser lights to join — and the last five years has allowed some of these folks to even thrive, as long as they could find listings and motivated buyers. On the other hand — the industry does attact some folks with energy and hustle, at least.

Of related intest — is there any way to track growth in “owner is lic. RE agent” listings? Surely there is going to be some real shakout from RE agents who assumed mortgages that cannot withstand a significant downturn in income in the coming months and years.

Powayseller talking up Bob Casagrande and leaving me high and dry… I guess I better start sending her some better bribes…

Seriously guys I ABSOLUTELY agree with the statements made. Nothing new in this post except this is an opinion from someone on the inside… It is FRUSTRATING as heck when the realtor on the other side of the transaction is a bonehead. I want to be fair though, it is just as frustrating when the person on the other side of the transaction is a bonehead mortgage broker as well…

Yes it is a low barrier to entry… As an engineer and a Realtor it is a quite a difference dealing with the different peer groups. I will say in all fairness, many Realtors who have no advanced degrees are VERY good at what they do. So I do not want to bury them as a group…

Do the major brokerages care about the low barrier of entry? Absolutely not. Look they figure that with every bonehead they bring in, that bonehead has an aunt, or spouse, or friend, or someone in thier “sphere of influence” who they can get a transaction out of.

That is what is important to them….

Last I checked, no real estate brokerage has any tests you have to take to maintain employment… If you pass the DRE requirements, and are not a total screw up, and pay your required fees… you will get to hang around…

One good thing about the downturn is that the good agents will survive and the rabble will go back to thier waitress and bartending jobs…

SD Realtor,

I appreciate your posts, although I have one criticism about your last one. While you’re decrying lack of intelligence of some realtors, you’ve mispelled “their” twice! Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

I guess this just keeps on going as your grammer is off also “what’s even more funnier is that” should simply be “what is even funnier is”

SDR – you missed several other intended misspellings and grammatical misgivings (including my misspelling of grammar) … as well as the sarcasm intended.

I was just trying to stop this glass-throwing from inside rock houses.

Spelling is a weak point for many people. So are writing skills. So I do not judge a person’s inteligence by their spelling, unless it is really bad. However, if someone speaks poorly, saying “ain’t” or double negatives (I don’t have no time), then I think they are uneducated.

I found a realtor on RealtyTimes, with so many bad spelling mistakes, I made fun of her and put her article in a post here. Some people thought I was too rough on her. “She’s a foreigner, give her a break” I was told. Well, “she needs to get someone to proofread a report that she publishes on Realty Times”, was my response. That lady was an example of a stupid realtor.

But people like SD Realtor, Bob Casagrand, John Hokkannen, and sdrealtor are intelligent people. They are still making a living in these hard times.