Owners' Web gives Realtors run for money

The country's largest for-sale-by-owner Web site may have winning formula to challenge Realtors' dominance.
The New York Times

The story "Owners' Web gives Realtors run for money" published January 3, 2006 at 5:07 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.

[sns4321us]

Real Estate agents dont deserve 6%

A real estate agent spends about 20 hours per client and for a 300K house ends up pocketing $9000 which is a ridiculous $450 an hour. For making appointments, filling up standard forms and talking on the phone this is ridiculous. Even an ordinary secretary can do this very well.

Moreover, the work involved is the same regardless of the price of the house. So for a $600K house the per hour rate becomes $900. Daylight robbery.

Ideally the compensation for real estate agents should be around $20 - $25 per hour. That way they get paid irrespective of whether the sale happens or not rather than the ridiculous 6%

[MrHandle]

No Clue

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. First, your broker gets the commission then shares it with you. Second, the 6% (and most of the time it is not 6%--more like 4%)would only be if you both had the listing and brought in a buyer. Both usually require advertising at the agents expense. In most cases, you would only get one side of the deal as a listing agent, which would usually be 2.5%. Then, your broker takes close to half that. You need a license and there is a good amount of school and a difficult state test to take in order to be a real estate agent. There is much more work involved then you think.
The average Realtor makes around $8,000 dollars a year. I guess you just read this horribly missinforming article and responded to it. The bottom line is don't believe everything you read.

[jjosephs]

Real Estate agents don't deserve 6%

I agree that the commission for brokers is obscene. And in some markets the fee is more than 6%. Also the need of a lawyer is not always necessary. I sold a house in 2000 using only the Title/Abstract company who provided all the legal guidance necessary. So, more power to the entreprenuers who are challenging the broker system and may more web sites spring up all over the country.

[m321040]

S S get a new job

Kind of late but ...o well ...
Dear SS if you think agents make so much money/h why don't you quit your day job and become a real estate agent? Then you can tell us about how easy is to make $900/h.