June 2010 Archives

A recent post in Active Rain asked very simply "When Do Realtors Stop Working for Free?" She mentioned that she: "got an email today from a colleague who is a real estate investor. He is very savvy and someone who "gets" it. His advice can be summed up in a couple of snippets. If we are as smart as we think we are and we give great advice, why are we giving it away?"

The comments were overwhelmingly from agents that agreed with her premise but questioned how they could get paid in any way other than by commission. But there were a few responses that blew me away - one actually said that she "hated this conversation" because she maintained that we are (I guess she thinks we always have to be) commissioned salespeople without ever letting her mind expand that practices change when businesses do.

"Don't get too close to me...I have a cold!" We have believed for so long that breathing the same air will spread germs, that it's almost a given. But if you talk to medical professionals, they will tell you that colds and viruses are rarely spread by breathing the same air. It's the exchange of body fluids that spread the germs.

In our profession, we have been told, and continue to tell the consumer, that a commission is a payment for services rendered. We've repeated it for so long that, almost universally, we believe it to be true. But logically, it's not. The consumer knows this and with a tight economy, they are increasingly asking some very logical questions: