3 Myths About Real Estate Agents

Real Estate agents have always been the broker or "mediator" between real estate transactions but are not always used. The people that decide to go on their own to sell their home are For Sale By Owner's or FSBO's. What would cause someone to sell their home by themselves?

Money has become a very large factor in this economy. FSBO's are wanting to save every penny they can, but then again, aren't we all? Since around 80% of For Sale By Owners end up using a Real Estate Agent to sell their home, there are five myths that they will need to find truth in order to shake the fear out of using a real estate agent.

MYTH #1

Real Estate Agents Get Paid Too Much For What They Do.

This has always been a big misconception that started in 2002 when the Real Estate market took off and the stigma has lasted ever since. The truth of the matter is, the market has dropped 10 years worth of growth in the last 2 years due to our current economic state. Agents on average, made 35,000 per year in 2002 and has dropped dramatically in 2008-2010. After paying for proper marketing and the time spent showing people properties, agents DO NOT get paid too much for what they do.

MYTH #2

Real Estate Agents Are Lazy!

This sort of ties in with Myth #1 except it gets down to what a successful agent really does. They usually have a marketing budget of around 10% of their projected earnings for that year. Often times they cant afford to hire a graphic designer so they spend time making their own ads and then spending their own money on marketing their listings. They then spend an hour a day canvassing homes to prospect for more listings. Someone may call them up and want to see a home so they drop everything they are doing to run over to the home to let the prospective buyer in. They take bankers out to lunch to find out more information about the economy to let you the buyer know what to do. They are doing paperwork and responding to emails a large part of the day and all the while, worried about when their next sale is coming from. Agents want to work, and they want to work hard!

MYTH #3

Real Estate Agents Are "Sketchy" or Out For Themselves.

While it is very true that some real estate agents do care more about their well being than yours, (it is becoming more common now the the economy has fallen a bit) most real estate agents are not like this. The National Association of REALTOR's put the REALTOR Code of Ethics in place which keeps Real Estate Agents "honest". Although you will have bad seeds in every industry, be cautious and interview your real estate agent before hiring them to serve you. Ask a lot of questions and go with your intuition!