WSJ: "There are more real-estate agents than homes for sale in the U.S."14475
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 WGAN ForumFounder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
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| The Wall Street Journal (18 March 2021) New Realtors Pile Into Hot Housing Market. Most Find It Tough Going. - In January, there were more real-estate agents than homes for sale in the U.S. The red-hot housing market has achieved a number of milestones this past year. Perhaps the most telling is this: There are more real-estate agents than homes for sale in the U.S. This phenomenon reflects both the extremely tight supply of homes on the market and how surging prices are persuading tens of thousands more Americans to try their hands at selling real estate. Source: The Wall Street Journal |
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 WGANStandard Member Los Angeles |
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| I can only speak of California, but I expect it represents a norm. Real estate agents exercise a fiduciary responsibility over what is, to most people, the largest financial transactions of their lives. In CA, the only people who can transact RE matters without a DRE license are licensed attorneys. Let’s examine this. Attorneys have to attend college, then law school, then pass the bar exam which is not a cake walk. They are highly trained, grilled in the pitfalls of fiduciary matters and generally are highly cautious and do things right as they can have their license revoked, taking away their livelihood. In CA, you know what the educational requirements are to get a RE license, and handle multimillion-dollar transactions? • no college degree required • no high school degree required • no grade school degree required • no kindergarten degree required All you have to do is pass (70% score) a state RE exam which anyone can with a few weeks study, and sign one statement promising to be honest. That’s it, and you’re licensed to handle RE transactions equivalent to a licensed attorney who completed law school and passed the bar exam. Another issue: If you’re a buyer or seller with a business transaction worth millions, would you hire an attorney to represent BOTH SIDES of the deal? And would you sign a form that PERMITS your agent to handle both sides, which spells out that IF the agent handles both sides, then are then prohibited from pursuing YOUR best interest over the other party? Guess what!? This is commonly done in most states. RE agents can handle BOTH SIDES of a negotiated transaction. The appeal is that the agent may offer to reduce the commission by 1% if they handle both sides. But at what potential cost to the seller and buyer? Save 1% on a $500,000 deal = $5000. But what if 10-20K is lost in the lack of representation? Seven states have made dual agency illegal, but most permit it as it highly benefits large brokerages and the top agents. Welcome to RE. Go take your exam. |
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