Did you at least get kissed first? OMG…if it’s a great deal then chalk it up to experience. If not, then I’d walk. In either case I would make sure everyone I know stays clear of that agent!

Sad, but very true …

How many part time agents are there in Florida (or California, NY, or the Carolinas, etc.?) .. 60, 70, 80% of the market.?? .. just because you’re in the business doesn’t mean you “know” anything about the business. We have some friends in the Ft Myers area (example only) that have been *in* the business for 11 years, and have never sold a home, not one…

Every year they would wait for their friends to come down from New Jersey and they would list their condo or house, they would usually list 12/15 properties a year … come May, the listings fall and everyone goes back home, but they get their 2 or 3 sales a year.

In today’s market, they have no idea what to due … they run and hide from their previous clients because they sold them a $600,000 property 3 years ago that won’t see much more than $450,000 a good and glorious day … and if they’re still on speaking terms, they insist that every agent still gets 6% commission and they want $5,000 in start-up fee’s because they are a full service broker — ahh, who isn’t nowadays ..l.o.l.. it’s ridicules …

In the meantime, the seller finds another top notch agent and they come to an agreement to do a flat fee or agreement on a much reduced commission … or, the agent can sit in their office (like my buddy in Chicago) and answer phones and watch the NBA play-offs while the broker down the street is closing on 5 more houses a month …. truly amazing.

Again, I hate using this analogy “but” … it’s like going to a car dealer and having them tell you they won’t negotiate off of sticker price, when the dealer 3 miles away has $2,000 in rebates, plus will come off the price $1,000 — like my great grand Daddy used to say: “You can be a lion and you can be a tiger, but never be a pig..”

– we know what happens to pigs..

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I read something from the NAR yesterday that profiled agents. In this day and age with the impact of the economy and technology it was amazing to see how far behind the industry is.

Maybe it’s because if you can fog a mirror you can get a license..who knows but it caught my ire when I read the opinion from the NAR on this issue. They spoke of telling agents to watch out but said nothing about the client’s interest.

Like you said…don’t they realize that the general public sees this stuff?

The only flak you should be receiving, is from the agents that still think you can show 3 houses on a Sunday and have a signed and sealed contract by Wednesday and a closing by the 30th every month — or maybe they live just got out of their coma, or perhaps they live in Tibet.

I find it amazing, whether it be Active Rain or Trulia “Voices” that posting agents keep pushing fee’s or 6% commissions .. get what you can upfront and fight for the rest later. We work in a commission driven business, some is better than none – and “none” means you’re unemployed — and you’re worried about gas and time.?

It’s like most agents don’t think that in today’s world that consumers read their posts or shop agents, or their companies or ever object to a flawed system that has (and is) changing everyday, buyers don’t have to get loud or mad anymore, they just go to another Broker … “Hello agents.!”, look at the auto industry, dealerships dropping like fly’s, it’s nothing more or less than the mirrored image or the echo of the Real Estate business — except, we’re only a few months behind.

Personally I don’t mind the “sorry ass real estate agents” .. actually, I’m overjoyed they are here and they’re the vast majority …. while they cry and whine about splitting commissions and embarrass themselves with hinky fee’s and silly tariff’s that the buyer or seller already knows “not” to pay, in a crashing market those agents have *increased MY business* by 20% this year – thank you very much.!

I don’t have an issue negotiating a flat fee for listing or selling a home, I don’t have an issue with getting paid a flat fee of $10,000 for selling $400,000 condo, etc etc … in the meantime, the lazy agents can charge all the fee’s they want — see you at the closing table.!