If you look up a statistics on what consumers want when it comes to real estate agents it’s almost universally the same. It’s honesty! Unfortunately there’s quite a few things that real estate agents don’t want you to know and likely won’t tell you. First let’s cover all the things that are surprises to home buyer and sellers alike.
- Commission is negotiable
- Yes, You CAN sell the home yourself
- Open Houses sell 1% of all home sales. That basically means they don’t work, but they are great for your agent.
- Buyer’s agents don’t represent the buyer… that’s a state specific one. In our State (Georgia), we are legally responsible to look out for the best interest of our clients, buyer or seller. That’s why agreements are so important.
Seriously, Though... You Don’t Care About Honesty Or Experience
Every year NAR (National Association of Realtors) does a study and the number one answer that all clients want is honesty. Yet in ever one of these examples real estate agents are or would be reluctant to share the truth with the client for fear of losing the business. You see…
It's Who's On First
Statistically speaking home sellers (and buyers) pick the very first agent they talk to. They don’t interview. This is a 6 figure (or more) decision. The most stressful thing that someone can do outside of divorce and they pick the first person they talk to?! Can you imagine making any other decision this way? Maybe it is the stress that causes folks to choose so quickly (to get the pain over with). The public sees only one profession as less honest than real estate agents - used car salespeople. However for whatever reason, instead of interviewing to find the best agent that can live up to the NAR (National Association of Realtors) hype they go with the first one they find. This is true with luxury real estate as well! The solution could certainly be higher standards for agents, standards that would weed out those that are not professional, but hopefully you can see from these “Things your real estate agent doesn’t want you know” that some of the responsibility falls on the client in their selection process.
Or Who's Related To Them
When surveyed the vast majority (over 80%) choose the first agent they spoke to. In most of those cases it was someone that was related to them. For some reason when given the survey some of those people who picked a relative chose this answer instead of "First Person." In any case it's very likely that if you have ever sold a home you used your relative or close friend. Now they could have been an amazing professional but statistically (average agent only sells 6 homes), the chances are much more likely that they are an amazing Teacher, Arbonne salesperson or some other profession and they just happen to have their license. When selecting a relative I could almost "buy" the honesty angle except...
If you cared you'd interview. A real estate agent makes certain promises to clients and they must uphold those promises. A Realtor even has ethics, such as working in the area of their knowledge. This opens up a whole new discussion, but the you'd never know because you didn't interview.
If you are in the minority and you did interview, Kudos to you! Bravo!
What was I wrong about? Let us know in the comments below!
Joshua Jarvis is a 15 year veteran of real estate and runs his own real estate team, Jarvis Team Realty in Duluth, GA. His team is routinely in the top 1% locally and top 2% nationwide with over 100 homes sold every year. A graduate of Georgia Tech, Joshua engineers systems for his team and clients alike.