In case any others misunderstood my intent....
September 29, 2006 by Terri MurphyI received an email from a displeased reader who also happens to be in the discount brokerage business regarding an article I wrote that was published on Broker Agents News and this blog titled, "Are you worth your commission."
In case any others misunderstood
my intent, I thought I'd take this time to elaborate a bit more.
Discount brokers
serve a great space in our industry, and there should be as in any other
business, a model to serve everyone's needs. My comment is "getting what
you pay for" was directed to any company that offers real estate services
and the consumer is not aware of what they are getting, are unhappy as a result
of their expectations not being met, be it discount or otherwise."? This is extremely glaring in the number of consumer
grievances and
complaints filed every day with state and local associations, for which I sit
on several boards. As occurs in many business service models, real hard costs
drive services and our studies indicate that in almost every instance of a
palette of real estate services that most agents are NOT aware of what their
actual costs for services are, and in many cases are not running efficient
businesses, and the agent or company can't or doesn't provide what the customer
expects, and ultimately their customers don't get what they are expecting or
paying for....regardless of the service model of the company. In the case of
companies that offer some or partial services the consumer needs to know what
they are getting in ANY service, real estate or other, exactly what the
agreement for services encompasses, and we'd have a lot less lawsuits and
grievances filed which incidentally are on the rise from those associations
that I consult with. In any case, those diligent souls who provide good
services and get paid commensurate with those services will prevail."? I apologize for any lack of clarity or
confusion I may have caused, and couldn't agree with you more! I am not
affiliated with any real estate company models, and have no need to criticize
any particular service or company, but will champion people like yourself who
offer good honest services for compensation. There are hundreds of small
services across our country today"? that
are offering real estate services that aren't even realtors, which was the point
of my article. They adhere to no Code of Ethics and no training, but the consumer
doesn't understand what questions to ask to "list" their property on
a website. As you know the FSBO programs are prolific at this time in many
areas, and the consumers are not getting what they expect.














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