February 2010 Archives

Should one have a real estate license in order to become an ACRE® ?

PT - Ontario

This is the first in a series of "round table" interviews with experienced ACRE® agents on their real estate consulting practice, led by our Times Community editor, Mary Pope-Handy.

Today's interview is with Ron Stuart, Laurie Furem, Mollie Wasserman, Merv Forney and Paula Bean, regarding how home sellers pay for professional real estate help in the marketing & sale of their home.

As an Accredited Consultant in Real Estate, you counsel clients rather than sell to them, and you provide a variety of ways in which you can assist clients in reaching their goals (and a variety of compensation models too).

The question I have for you is this: how frequently do your consulting clients end up with a traditional type of commission arrangement for selling a home as opposed to paying a flat fee, fee for service or an hourly rate?

Ron: Rarely
Merv: About 50/50
Paula: Not often with a "regular sale"
Laurie: It's mixed...
Mollie: My experience was like Laurie's

Let's dig a little deeper. It sounds like in many cases; clients opt for something other than hiring with a commission compensation plan.

Can you fill us in on that a little more?

We're having a great discussion on our private ACRE list serve, The Coaching Exchange, about consulting. It's clear from the discussion that there is still a lot of confusion about the role that a trained consultant performs and how they are paid for their services.

As we've said many times, consulting is not about a fee schedule! Consulting is a practice that provides quality, transparent choices with commission being just one of the choices offered. You can do 100% of your business by commission and yet practice as a consultant because you have the tools in your toolbox to offer other choices, both in the services you offer and how you can get paid. Providing choices is a wonderful thing - it brings you the business regardless of how they ultimately pay.

I get this question asked ALL of the time from my past and future clients. So here I will share with you my 30 years of wisdom on this topic.

I started in real estate in 1979, with the great S & L bailout, mortgage rates in the double digit figures, no MLS, no internet, no company training, lol...what WAS I THINKING??!! To make the matter worse, I was 21 but looked like I was about 15 (ahhh, wish those days were back!). So, I quickly learned that if I was going to 'make it' in this cut throat business, I needed a leg up on all the other experienced agents.

After getting my real estate license, I got my mortgage brokers license because that was in the day that mortgage officers only worked Mon - Fri, 9-5. I wanted to know evenings and weekends how to prequalify a buyer.

Next I went on to take appraisal classes in order to accurately assess a property value. Then, I went to hang out with a Title Company office, so I could fully assess what happens from start to finish in a real estate transaction. I also tagged along with a home inspector, termite inspector and I took as many classes as I could on negotiations, contracts, law.

SO drumroll please ;-) ...... Here is what I've learned in 30 years and will share with you about the BEST time to buy or sell a house. let's start with the best time to buy.