She sounds a cut above the rest, which is rare.

Ive encountered some real unethical doozeys. Id say the slimeball factor in real estate is a good 70%. I still have not found a real estate lawyer i intend to use long term.
Ive consistently used a realtor who was a former engineer. Guy was friendly and personable, and genuine, which was a shock after a several month process looking for people

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Interestingly, I'm doing so (even have a broker to hang it with). Total cost with the online class is very low here. Though my goal isn't to sell residential property as much as having access to info and deals as well as doing commercial rentals.

You are probably correct. The job looks so easy, and you can get some results with minimal effort, it must attract more than its fair share of laash bums.

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Don't forget, the total commission is typically split up to 4 ways. 1/4 each to the listing agent, listing broker, selling agent and selling broker.

So a selling agent may gross $4500 of that $18K. (They would receive additional fourths if they were also the listing agent or the broker.)

If they sell a house a month (which would be considered successful where I live), they may gross $54K per year before their expenses.

It's a tough game to make a full time living in, especially when you are trying to become established. But clearly the more talented, driven and experienced realtors can make a killing.

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Behind every great man is a great woman. Behind every great woman is a great behind.

So that takes care of a very small, hot market with high property values. What about po dunk USA ?

Not so small -- the region of NYC I'm talking about has roughly the same population as San Diego County. About 1% of the US. Podunk probably depends on the area. If there's a strong local newspaper, it might be more popular than MLS.

You can also use flat-fee listing services to seed realtor.com, Zillow, etc. And don't discount Craigslist. Seriously.

Small as in compared to the total USA area. ( RE your area has high density ) Podunk could be a lot of surface area stretched out with towns having sub 2,000 people. Not everyone gets a new paper / has internet.

And, some don't want the hassle of selling on their own. It is like trading in a car at a dealer rather than selling outright.

It's a process selling a home, MSFowler. There's several ways it can go, but yours sounds somewhat typical. The early days are other RE agents, unless the listing price is very attractive from the git-go, they aren't speculators. Positive comments don't help any RE agent's cause for a faster sale. My home in Omaha had no less than 3 dozen RE agents flood the place in the first 2 weeks. It was a prime lot, a prime home, in a prized, historic, formerly rural Omaha subdivision that supports up to $1.25 Mil. sales, on 1/2 acre and Up lots well within the midtown area of Omaha. In the market timing, it took over 6-months to get a reasonable price. That's the breaks in RE, it usually takes time to sell at a reasonable, non fire sale price. You just have to ride it out for up to a year - or your pricing is way out of line all along.

MLS is the only way to go for maximum exposure. Nothing else gives max-exposure. Unfortunately, nothing's free when selling your home. If it's a slam dunk doing a FSBO for some, then go for it.

True Dat. The early responders to my adverts were realtors offering to list my homes. They extolled the dubious value of their MLS and often offered reduced fees in an attempt to get the listing. The markets I experienced were Bethesda MD, eastern Connecticut and near Hartford CT.

When I was looking for a house, I first looked at local newspaper listings before going to a realtor. One can always negotiate better directly with the homeowner.

It may be because of my bias against realtors. I still don't believe we get good value from their services. The hourly wage is enormous. I don't care that they have to split fees, not my problem.

If they split fees they hourly wage would be much less don't you think?

Also, be sure to count the hours spent carting buyers around that never results in a sale.

If it is so easy, you would be doing it. And just why are you not an agent as your sole source of income? Just think of the people you could be helping by working for a lower rate.

I would gladly pay a real estate agent by the hour for their time plus a bonus if the house sells, vs a big single payday, because then they are working to your interests, not their own.

Their own interests may be list the house at a low price and get rid of it quick for a fast payday.

The reality is these people are never truly in the homeowners corner, or buyers

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The amount of money an individual agent pockets is not my concern. All that concerns me is the amount I have to pay for the service. It does not seem to me to be a difficult job. One has to be patient, able to hide feelings about an individual customer and be willing to drive around to show houses. The qualifying exam probably takes considerable study but my limited experience shows some really stupid people can make it in that profession.

And no, I have no interest in "helping others" by being a real estate agent. I would rather be a used car salesman but if I think someone is an arse they can always tell so I would not be successful at that either.

Don't worry about it, I sell a lot of houses and if you let buyers get to you it will drive you up the wall.

A couple points.

1. HGTV has ruined the real estate market. Everyone now expects all houses and apartments regardless of price point to look HGTV good. So if you can paint for cheap and clean a house up for cheap do it.

2. People have an irrational fear of old roofs. Its so bad any flip I do I just throw a new roof on unless the roof is brand new. Part of this fear is from insurance and mortgage companies requiring them.

3. In the internet age most people are not very hands on and have no clue what they are looking at. Its not like it was years ago where people were handy and fixed houses up. Now most just hire contractors which costs a fortune or they simply are afraid of it and don't want to get involved. 90% of buyers when they tell you they want a "fixer upper" they mean painting a bedroom.

As a result when I sell a used house I do the following to maximize my profit:
1. Refinish hardwood floors and replace carpet. Cheap is fine as long as it's new.
2. Replug and switch the entire thing.
3. Paint the entire inside with bold colors, people like color!
4. New roof.
5. New hot water heater. (old heaters scare people)
6. If furnace is over a decade old its replaced, if its oil its converted to natural gas.
7. I have had great luck with Ikea kitchens and appliances.
8. Clean the interior like its an operating room.

Cheap stuff is ok, as long as its new and fresh.

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HGTV has also created opportunities to buy stuff that the average bleating sheep doesn't want at a lower price point than average. Don't complain -- that's how you make your money, right? Right.

But I'm not sure about your idea that no one does anything by themselves anymore. A lot of my friends (not always from blue-collar backgrounds) have fixed up houses. And the flip-side of the Internet is that knowledge and decent tools (thanks Craigslist) have become more available and cheaper than ever.

So what you are saying is they force or go behind the owners back and sell the house at a lower figure than what the owner states as their bottom line?

The property owner has the final say as to what $ they will accept.