Critter, Lets look at an example. x buys home for 400K in 1997 and sells for 950K in 2005. Each agent made 17K, loan officer made about 3 to 5K. Seller made 500K. A good agent making HUGE commissions might have made 150K to 200K after expenses if they were able to do this at least once a month. Only a very small percentage of agents earn that much. I believe that good loan officers were making 150 to 250K during the boom. Lots of homeowners that sold had much larger capital gains than agents or loan officers earned during the boom on a single transaction. Again, I am not advocating a bailout but I just find it ironic that there are plenty of folks "who got bailed out" by the housing bubble in the form of a couple hundred grand windfall only to find the idea that the people who provided them their windfall are a bunch of dopes who deserved what they got and are unworthy of assistance.
