Todays Housing market is wickedly 😈 competitive. With that competition, I’m seeing more people looking to their Agent to bend on their commission.
Just a word.. or two.. from someone that works with Realtors every day and sees what they go through…
Friends, before you ask for a discount on the commission paid to your agent for helping you sell or buy your home 🏠 , please understand what you’re asking of them…
I’ve heard some say that Realtors are overpaid and an unnecessary part of a transaction. Those who think this have either been watching too much “Million Dollar Listing” or think they know how to do it all on their own.
Let’s break down what they get paid.
Real Estate Agents don’t keep all the money paid as a commission. What you see is 3% paid on that sale. But that’s not what agents actually get.
Commissions paid to them are:

  • – Before taxes
  • – Before broker splits
  • – Before marketing
  • – Before board dues
  • – Before office bills
  • – Before professional photographs on your home
  • – Before professional staging on your home
  • – Before all the other costs of doing businessAfter all these deductions and what’s left over, they can then begin paying for other things we often take for granted in many of our jobsThey don’t receive:
  • – Employer healthcare
  • – Employee matched retirement accounts
  • – Paid vacations – Weekends off – Nights off
  • – Maternity leave
  • – Bereavement pay/leave
  • – Company car

Remember what was left of that commission? They still need to pay for all of this out of their own pockets. Every single penny.

Yes, there are some realtors who may be married to people working company jobs who receive some of these benefits. But the vast majority of real estate agents support their families on what’s left AFTER their “benefits” are paid.

clients when theyYep, I know… they did choose a career in real estate. It’s a career which they love and it allows virtually uncapped growth and income potential. But they also have to often be available at any time of the day when needed, often including and especially weekends, whether it’s showing homes at 7pm, writing offers at 11 pm or doing final walkthroughs at 6am. They are there, available to help their clients when they are needed.

They work long hours including evening and weekends. Question for you: If your boss asked you to work overtime, but wasn’t going to compensate you for doing so, would you still do it?

Prior to me working in the mortgage industry, I thought the same that many do. Agents did very little for their pay. Oh, how I was wrong. ďżź

I suggest you walk a mile in an agents, or a loan officers, shoes.

Get your real estate license, start lead generating on your own (far more difficult than it sounds), find clients who like you and trust you to help them with the BIGGEST purchase of their lives.

Make sure you know not only what goes in the blanks of the contracts, but also what the promulgated parts of them say. Learn the legal steps of what happens once you write a contract, and what business partners are a good fit to help your clients and who’s a scam.

Try and keep deals together when they’re about to go south with critical thinking skills all while staying within legal parameters and keeping a cool head.

Educate your new homeowner clients about what’s gonna happen after they close and what to expect in the years to come.
Then listen, repeatedly, as others tell you the money you’ve been paid is WAY too much and they could do what you’ve done for much, much less.

Exhausting, isn’t it?

Take care of your agent and, yes, your loan officer! We’re often in that same boat trying to help you get into that home.

Buy them a coffee ☕️, go to lunch, a spa day 😇 or at least send them a thank you card or thank you email. Or better yet… give them a positive online review and when someone you know needs their help, pass that friend names directly to them so they can help them too!

Thanks for listening. Carry on…..

😀👊👍