What exactly does a real estate agent do?
When Moya Skillman, a real estate broker at Compass in Seattle, goes out with friends, she often brings up the latest episode of Million Dollar Listing, Bravo. It’s a franchise, part of a genre of reality shows that turns real estate agents into stylish, fast-talking, designer-wearing characters dressed as sharks.
“Everyone knows reality shows aren’t reality, right?” Skillman said, unconvinced. “Right? You don’t just negotiate a deal on speakerphone and suddenly raise $500,000.”
Mr. Del Rosario of New York was more blunt: Real estate is “considered a shady business,” he says. “The used car salesman is right there.”
Skillman rattled off a list of tasks and costs. When listing a home, she often meets with the seller a year or more before the home goes on the market and offers advice on repairs and improvements. To prepare a property for sale, she pays for staging, photography, videography and marketing materials, which are not recouped until the home sells and can run up to $20,000 for a high-end property. Sometimes it goes up. As a buyer’s agent, she may spend dozens of hours on nights, weekends, and holidays touring properties with countless gas tanks and making offers with no guarantee that buyers will find a home. She then negotiates offers, drafts contracts, and reads and synthesizes disclosure statements.
Agents also pay licensing fees, insurance premiums, and brokerage desk rental fees. And when a deal closes, the broker receives a portion of the commission, which varies widely depending on the company and the agent’s experience. Brobeck said a small number of people don’t give up anything, but many pay about 20%, and some give up half of their income.