Typically, if you want to know what a realtor does to sell your house, you have them over to make a listing presentation in person.  Because of antitrust laws that ‘promote fair competition for the benefit of consumers’, the commission rates charged by realtors are rarely seen in public.

Until the discounters came to town.

They advertise their rate because they want to appeal to the price-shoppers.  Consumers who shop for the lowest rate are attracted to this ploy, and don’t ask enough questions about what they get for the money.

Because the real estate industry refuses to publish any minimum standards, the discounters can get away with statements like, ‘full service for less’.  Today, you can ‘hire’ a realtor for $100 or less – but what do you get, and is it what you want and need?

Let’s start by outlining the levels of service available.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Different Types of Realtor Service

Full Service – Expert

This is where you get a long-time veteran realtor – a full-timer who has closed hundreds of sales – to handle every aspect of your transaction.  Any assistants involved have a similar level of experience, and together they produce a smooth, seamless sale at the absolute highest price possible.

Full Service – Trainee

Every agent learns on-the-job.  Consumers deserve to know the differences, but because of the lack of transparency, there is no qualifying of how helpful an agent will be – you are taking a chance.  Agents can claim to be in the Top 1%, and say their assistants are ‘experts’, but there are no official standards.  As a result, team leaders are prone to hiring lower-cost employees with less experience to fill the gaps.  Because it is a fast-paced and complicated business, the trainees struggle to deliver the same results as the real experts.

Limited Service

This is one service that is clearly defined here, because of everything the realtor doesn’t do for you. It is primarily for MLS entry only, where the realtors cash your check, input your listing onto the MLS system and hope you can figure out the rest on your own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Consumers – and realtors themselves – would be well-served if the real estate industry had a definition of the services provided, and then had every agent publish the specifics of what they do to serve clients.

Zillow does allow agents to list their sales history, but there is no instruction for consumers to properly use the information.  Their agent profiles are full of fluff, with at least half of them promising to deliver your ‘dreams’.

If every realtor published their actual services provided (with fees) and a detailed profile of every team member’s experience, then consumers could make an educated decision about who they are hiring.