The real estate industry has done a hell of a job convincing the unwashed masses that it would be a hideous error in judgment to attempt to buy or sell property without the indispensable services of your local real estate agent. The cold, hard truth is that a property doesn’t sell because of some magical intrinsic value added by a real estate agent. In fact, we believe the job may on the verge of obsolescence, replaced by property recommendation services like Empowered Investor Network. An agent does not add value to the process of buying or selling a house, only artificially inflates the sales price.
But a real estate agent works hard, don’t they? Actually, no, they don’t. Of all the people involved in the transaction (buyer, seller, inspector, mortgage broker, title insurance provider, appraiser, attorney, agents) it appears that it’s the real estate agent who works the least. 10 years ago, we could not have legitimately made this claim but, these days, don’t let them fool you into thinking they’re working their fingers to nubbins all for your benefit. The funny part (probably not to them) is that the very bit of technology that makes their job easier – the Internet – is liable to be the death knell for their way of life.
Closings run much smoother with the real estate agent to grease the way, right? Sorry but you’re wrong on that count as well. The title company does all the work in regard to closing. The only contribution a real estate agent makes to the process is to have the sense to choose a good title company. After that massive feat of cunning and wile is complete, the title company runs everything connected to the close.
The final question we’d like to pose is: Does your real estate agent really know a lot more about the business than you do? Granted, if they’ve been doing it for more than a decade, there’s a good chance they may have picked up the odd bit of useful information along the way but it takes much less education than you might expect to be a licenses property seller. All you need is a high school diploma, 40 hours of classes, a passing grade on the cumulative test, and a few hours of continuing education along the way. Not to belittle the profession but this is not neurosurgery. Most of what an agent could teach you is freely available through Internet research.
The Creating Wealth Team
