[quote=Russell]The important feature in RE is the “cabal” not the “cult” of professional specialists. The first enables the second and real estate is hardly the only “profession” under such a system.
Most endeavors in our society have been put under difficult to circumvent, “pay to play” constricts. In some cases the financial burdens to the consumer are ridiculous as in real estate commissions.
When you witness the typical schmoozing, puffing , bullying, word twisting, mystique inducing realtor, that is only happening because that is what works best.If it didn’t work, we would have a different “typical” realtor. Obviously, some RE sales and mortgage people have skills and work ethics that are beneficial to their businesses and prevalance of the negative components,however typical, is highly variable.[/quote]
Russell, I agree about “pay to play” constricts being expensive for consumers. Of course, the same could be said for attorneys – you can’t live with ’em and you can’t live without ’em. You would actually have to follow a busy atty or RE agent around all day to see exactly what it is that they do for a living . . . kinda like a police ride-along. If you follow your attorney you’re riding along with into court and watch him/her address the court and possibly argue, you might ask yourself if you can do that for yourself and also ask yourself what that atty had to do in order to prepare him/herself to address the court today. Then, if it looks easy to you, cake . . . easy money, and you think you might like to pursue this line of work, then you should prepare and apply for that license, that law school (assuming you’re admittable and admitted) . . . and 3-5 years later, apply and pay to take the bar exam . . . lather, rinse and repeat until you pass it. And then get ready to “assume the position” of paying down your $120K+ law school debt (working or not).
Did y’all ever think that “typical” realtors might be schmoozing, puffing , bullying, word twisting and mystique inducing because they are constantly approached by the captchas, drbooms and stevenos (no offense here) of the world about piecemealing their services, commission kickbacks and “representing themselves.” How can an agent get anything going with a “qualified long-time resident shopping in their own home turf” (like drboom and the best kind of buyer to have) unless they figure out a way to make him/her feel like they are “representing themselves?”
You might want to ask an active CA RE licensee how much IT COSTS them to remain “active” whether they make any $$ or not. Licensing fees, required continuing ed, REALIST, elec CAR forms, high-speed scanner rental, gas, signage, mobile broadband, business license and possibly office overhead (if broker), advertising, lockboxes, sandicor, transaction coordinator fee, assistant salary, extra block of minutes for cell phone and of course, health insurance and social security. If working with distressed properties, you might also need Lexis Nexis and/or an online up to the minute trust-deed status service and, as sdr said, a “short-sale negotiator.” Not to mention that the majority of agent-salespersons have to split their 2-3% commission with their broker when they finally DO get paid!
It’s EASY to waste 100 hours working in RE sales. If an active licensee chooses to waste their time with every Joe Schmo Flake that wants some of it, the clock WOULD STILL BE RUNNING on all the above expenses (in addition to their LIVING expenses) and they would end up having to get out of the business . . . very fast.
I’ll repeat my mantra . . . if ya can’t beat ’em, STOP COMPLAINING AND JOIN ‘EM!
