The licensing requirements to perform real estate transactions should be...
- a lot more lenient. (20%, 17 Votes)
- a little more lenient. (2%, 2 Votes)
- the same as they are. (7%, 6 Votes)
- a little more stringent. (15%, 13 Votes)
- a lot more stringent. (56%, 49 Votes)
Total Voters: 87
This poll was active 07.08.2012 through 07.14.2012
Rate this post:
00
Real Estate is an on the job training profession.
No two transactions are the same. The paper work is one part of the over all experience, but hardly the main focus of getting a deal, and you need a deal, especially in today’s market place.
You don’t like guys like me, most people in the Real Estate profession don’t like guys like me. I’m a bottom feeder who has done paper clip transactions since I was a kid. I’m jaded.
At the same time this is my market place, and people coming into it should be better prepared. That means they better know more than how to fill in some blanks on a boiler plate form.
I know where all the bodies are buried, and can think of a thousand ways to gain an advantage. Best of luck with your good looking neighbor who happens to have a license.
Maybe if they are an e-pro with an MBA, and a whole salad bowl of other designation it will help. There again, maybe not.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
This is a rather vague question. The initial licensing requirement have been beefed up quite a bit in the past few years, requiring more initial education and more broker supervision the first two years. I’m sure that’s really made a big difference for the two people who have become agents since 2009. /sarc
But the licensing laws for existing agents hasn’t changed much, if at all. To the extent it has changed, it’s been relatively stupid stuff, like requiring earnest money checks to go to the brokerage. I can’t really believe that was a big problem, but hey, we have a solution! /sarc
If I were a designated broker, agents wouldn’t like my requirements, because I’d require a lot more oversight than what the law requires. For example, I’d want to see the contracts which never reached mutual acceptance.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Every one should have access to the Multiple Listing Services for a fee of say $100 per month with a cap of six months per year.
I think that would weed out more of the Real Estate agents that only provide what the Multiple has to offer.
The requirements portion seems to me to be a very sad way to determine who would be best suited to represent you in a Real Estate transaction.
I also think the Brokerage system needs to change from where the Brokers sit around all day collecting money for throwing agents into the field with no concern for what they are doing.
The Brokerages need to be held accountable.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 3 – Brokerages are accountable. When there’s a law suit, the designated broker will be named.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I’m going to break a confidence here because it is an important point.
There has been squabbling amongst Brokerages since the crash of the Real Estate market in particular, but all along since the first rise in pricing that began in 2003.
To become a Broker all you have to do is pass the Real Estate test, work for a couple of years, and get a designation as a Broker by taking some more classes, and taking another test.
OK, that has changed with the last set of changes that made every one a Broker, then added the designations of Managing Broker, and Designated Broker.
The big problem has been that any one, any friggin yahoo off the street, can open a Brokerage. No Real Estate experience is really required, no interest in the Real Estate Industry, or uplifting the Real Estate profession, just take some classes, take a test, and open a Brokerage.
The consumer thinks that if they pay a commission they are being represented in a Real Estate transaction. The truth is the Brokerage, and agent only need to work to the best of thier ability, no experience required, or very little experience required.
Ardell has pointed out that she has worked in Brokerages where she is the go to person because the Designated Broker doesn’t know anything. Well that got to be pretty common.
I worked in a Brokerage where the Owner, and Designated Broker knew nothing except sales, sales, sales, and set up a boiler room operation. It was nice, and all, but the person had no clue about the law, the workings of a Real Estate transaction, or putting together a deal. Ethics was a totally foriegn concept.
I was referred to this Brokerage after some incidents at the Brokerage where I had my license.
In my personal opinion some of the best Brokerages have some of the worst agents who should be retrained.
There are good Brokerages, like Lake, and Company. The Broker there runs a tight ship. It is a one office company that actually cares. Jim Rockwell I would always trust. There are a couple of hundred individual agents I would trust, but the Brokerage system needs to be tightened up.
The big problem is that the Brokerages run the Multiples. The Brokers are the members of the Multiple, and the agents are an add on. The agents pay dues, but they don’t get a vote. If I have a dispute with the Multiple, or an agent, or a Broker, it has to be handled by my Broker.
Of course I’m allowed to open my own shop, a lot of agents do. These individuals who own Brokerages have absolutely no over sight what so ever, they in turn are also allowed to hire agents.
It’s a screwed up system, but it is what it is. The consumer needs to be very careful in who they hire.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 4 –
OK counselor, out of the millions of people who have been out, and out swindled in Real Estate transactions, how many cases do you think have ended up in court?
I think less than 1% of 1%.
The Multiples call for arbitration, if I recall correctly.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I am for eliminating all licensing requirements. It could not get any worse than it already is with all of the “requirements”. Let’s get back to reality. Real estate agents exist to sell properties and most handle the transaction like they are running a garage sale or are unloading a used car on Craigslist. Let us stop with the deception that all real estate agents are special, competent and highly regulated. They are not. Put a big sign on the the lawn of all listings for sale that reads.. “Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware” and we will do more to protect the public than any amount of nonsensical regulations that just serve to cloud reality.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I don’t know anything about what is behind this question. However, based on my recent selling and buying experience, an agent just needs to know the rules enough to keep all parties in line and have that special skill of managing negotiations well and keeping the deal alive.
The traditional value of agents is declining. We no longer need agents to find and show us houses. Rather just show me the houses I send you from Redfin or Zillow listings, and help me with the negotiations when I decide to buy and/or sell. All the major agency contracts are pretty much the same. Any internet proficient client who spends 3 to 6 months searching listings on redfin already knows how to price, stage their house, and write a description.
So, the value of my awesome agent to me was his negotiation skills and his knowledge of the rules and what can or cannot be asked for or done. So, how stringent do licensing requirements need to be? A simple test to insure the agent understands the rules and procedures. That’s it.
My recent experience of selling and buying left me with the impression that we will always need agents primarily as negotiation facilitators. We could have agents in training to actually show houses. But I came to believe that ReMax and Windermere contracts are exactly the same. So why not keep agents and just do away with agencies? All base contracts can be filled out online on a Washington State or county website with ability to add addendums for county requirements or negotiated items etc.
Any halfway smart person should be able to pass a multiple choice question on real estate transaction laws. We should not make getting qualified too difficult. A little skill at staging and making nice listing photos is a bonus. But what I really valued in my agent was negotiation skills and support which required knowledge of the very rules that agents are probably tested for in order to obtain agent licenses. How hard can that be?
I was ready to throw in the towel and wait a year three times. My agent managed to keep a tough deal alive and make everyone happy. I guarantee you that skill has nothing to do with whatever is going on with licensing requirements.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By David Losh @ 5:
A new agent (under two years experience) needs to be supervised by a designated or managing broker. I’d have to look it up, but I really doubt someone could get around that by becoming a designated broker.
Also, the standard of care isn’t the “best of their ability.”
Also, making everyone a broker wasn’t a change of substance, it was a change of terminology. A stupid change IMHO. Referring to agents and brokers is much easier than referring to brokers and designated brokers.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By David Losh @ 6:
First, that is an incredibly bogus method of argument. Ask what percentage of something occurs when there is no way of knowing either the larger population or the smaller population. Then pull a number out of your butt like 1%.
Second, there is no arbitration clause in the purchase and sale agreement. The case I linked to where there were slippage issues ended up in court. The case Craig Blackmon recently won on appeal ended up in court.
Third, quit calling it “the muitiples.” There’s one major MLS around here, the NWMLS.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By Pegasus @ 7:
I guess when you don’t understand how things work, you not only see fraud everywhere, but you also have no idea how to stop fraud, or have any desire to stop fraud, because fraud will be rampant in your world in any event no matter what you do. After all, everything is fraud!
I agree with you that not all agents are competent. If there’s one thing this site has demonstrated, many long time agents who post here don’t even understand the standardized forms. But what I don’t see is why you in particular seem to want to go the opposite direction with real estate agents that you want to go with banks. More regulations and criminal prosecutions for banks, but less regulation for agents? Doesn’t make much sense.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By WannaBuy2012 @ 8:
Almost all the contracts are written on state-wide forms. Sometimes the firms will have their own addendum which they add. A few agents, like myself, will have their own addendum.
But just because they are standardized doesn’t mean they are simple. Bankruptcy forms are very standardized, but that doesn’t mean they are easy to fill out or that there are not consequences to how they are filled out. The same is true with real estate forms.
Just as an example, I’m one of the few agents who use Form 22AA, which pertains to appraisals. I do that for reasons that pertain to this issue:
http://www.trulia.com/blog/kary_l_krismer/2010/01/new_statewide_financing_contingency_forms_buyer_beware
Even though the NWMLS responded to that piece by amending Form 22A to remove the ambiguity I discovered, I wasn’t happy with the direction they went with their amendment, so I still use Form 22AA.
The bottom line is the forms are rather complex, and agents need to be better trained to understand them. There’s no way a non-lawyer consumer is going to be able to just step into a transaction and properly fill out the forms.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 11 – I just wanted to see you take the bait once again. You clearly have a philosophy that regulations that are in place to prevent fraud are a waste of time. You always miss the major argument I make that without enforcement regulations are worthless. A rather obvious failure of lack of enforcement against the banksters has brought this country to its knees. Criminals that get caught stealing and then get a free pass and no jail keep on stealing. LIBOR is a perfect example. The bankers just moved on to another scam while they had been exposed over many of the mortgage scams they had been pulling. Why should it be any different for your own industry where lots of noise is made about regulations, training, etc. while there is almost no enforcement taking place other than a few high profile token cases? Many people feel these non-enforced regulations are protecting them when in fact the opposite is happening. It provides a false sense of security that does not exist. Perhaps along with a “Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware” sign there should be another that says that a 5th grader could handle your transaction based on intelligence and qualifications and it won’t cost anymore than a candybar?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Pegasus @ 13 – Was there a point there somewhere? Misstating my position is hardly a point.
I would like to see you respond to OEM’s point that the LIBOR manipulation benefited borrowers.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 14 – I already did respond. It’s a canard. You can read my post made yesterday in the Weekend Open Thread. If you need reality explained more let me know.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Pegasus @ 15 – So you did. Sorry I missed that.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 1 –
As College Trained Opportunities for Jobs Collapses
These highschool diploma jobs like real estate will need to be replaced with college degreed only, ask the fire department.
Are we going to college for a professional career or the only chance for any career?
Soon, it may take an Associate’s degree to clean bathrooms.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 10 –
The Multiple system is used across the country. Transactions are between the Brokerages, and yes they do agree to arbitration.
Picking one Real Estate lawsuit to make a point is no response.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 18 – That disputes between agents or firms get arbitrated is different than what you were talking about. You were talking about those “out, [sic] and out swindled.” Those would be the consumer suits.
And yes there is more than one MLS in the world. Many areas have more competition between MLS entities. We don’t, so referring to “multiples” is unnecessary unless you’re talking about the entire country.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
One thing people here should be aware of is that in addition to requiring increased supervision for new agents, new agents are now required to take the practices course before the licensing exam. Before you only had to take that before your first renewal, which could be up to two years after being initially licensed.
The practices course has some very useful information for agents–probably more useful than the main licensing course. But again, as noted, there’s probably only been about 2 agents take the exam since this change in the law, so it probably hasn’t had that much impact.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By softwarengineer @ 17:
Thirty years ago most the employees who assisted the proctologists (sp?) at the Mason Clinic had degrees.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 20 –
On the other hand, the real estate sales practices course( which I took prior to the change in the license requirements) had a section called ” Overcoming resistance”, which had all the lines you were supposed to use when a client said things like ” this house is too expensive”, or ” We’re just not sure we’ll feel comfortable with house payments this high”, or ” We’ve thought about it and want to continue renting for the time being.”
I thought that was horrible. I’m not about to talk people into making decisions that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I’m much more likely to point out the upcoming expensive repairs or the fact that prices in that particular area may not have bottomed out.
I’m not about to win a “Salesman of The Year” award.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 21 –
For whatever reason, they’re not called proctologists anymore. I think they now call themselves ” Anus and rectal specialists”.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 12 –
You’re a waste of my time, but this comment demonstrates clearly the problem with Real Estate agents.
Real Estate transactions are a negotiation. The buyer, and seller come to a meeting of the minds, and proceed to closing the transaction.
The buyer, and seller are people looking to do what they think is right.
So when you insert your addendum as a buyer’s agent the listing agent refers the seller to an attorney, or gets an addendum saying the seller has been advised to seek legal advice.
Many agents might be willing to play games with you about your forms, but some agents would simply strike out miscellaneous addendum, send it back to you, and maybe kill the deal.
Your buyer may buy into your Real Estate sales patter, but most agents would, or should, just move on.
You keep talking like everybody is going to court, or that you can sue, or your Brokerage is in business to sue people. The consumer might sue the Brokerage, as the consumer, but they have to prove damages, and that is an uphill battle when they can simply kill a deal, and move on.
So maybe you are saying the Earnest Money are the damages. Well, I don’t know of any Brokerage that is in the business of taking Earnest Money from an unsatisfied customer. It happens for sure, but most Brokerages are in business to do the next deal.
What you are totally confused about is the John Demco, and Windermere connection. John Demco saw an opportunity to insinuate his law practice into a Brokerage, and the Brokerage saw an opportunity to use the threat of law suit to further credibility.
Windermere has very deep pockets, and the use of a law firm was an excellent choice for them. Now we are using the forms that are revised at the expense of the NWMLS. Not all Multiples are saddled with this concern.
As time goes on it will only push Real Estate transactions into the escrow companies that have attorneys write up the forms.
So all this lawyer talk is just meant to scare people into staying in a transaction they want out of? I say let’s move on, and get into something more suitable, pun not intended.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Ira Sacharoff @ 22 – Some of the things they allow to be a clockhour course are rather appalling.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: WannaBuy2012 @ 8 –
This is an excellent comment.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 24 – I’ll agree something approaching 99% of the transactions are no problem at all, because typically the buyer and seller both want the same thing–a completed sale. But once you’re under contract it’s too late to add provisions to cover something that might pop up. You have to have that in there from the beginning.
So, for example, if your client finally concludes more than five days after mutual acceptance that their lender is a total idiot and they want to switch to a lender you recommend, if the seller won’t sign off on that change you’ll have two risks. The first is the waiver of the financing contingency. If your lender is truly good, that might not be such a risk. The second is the appraisal coming in too low. That is a great risk because you don’t know who the appraiser will be, or what their qualifications are. You can deal with the second risk by using Form 22AA. If you didn’t include that with your offer, it’s too late.
I’ve had relatively little problem with agents striking the terms of my addendum. A few have struck the term for the automatic extension of the closing date in the event of an unforeseen circumstance. I have no idea why the statewide forms don’t include such a provision, at least as part of Form 22D. I did have one agent strike almost everything, even though it was almost identical in many ways to his own firm’s P&S addendum. It was pretty clear from the rest of the changes that they really didn’t want to come to terms–e.g. changing a 7 day inspection period to 3 days, etc. We just walked.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 27 –
It’s never too late.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By David Losh @ 28:
David, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
How can you possibly add in Form 22AA without the seller’s permission, and how are you going to get that permission if they won’t even agree to let you change lenders?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
No license required- set up shop anywhere you like, with anyone, just have one sheet of paper for the prospect to sign, a giant disclaimer. License the escrow agencies and have them do the legal work, including sales agreements. Let the realtors market and sell, and the lawyers or para-legals do the rest.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 29 –
It’s a negotiation.
The buyer wants to buy, and the seller wants to sell. The seller may not care, but dollars to donuts once the transaction is in progress it is better to work it out, in most cases, than move on.
What you just presented is of course, another red herring, straw man argument to waste my time.
If the buyer has an idiot lender why is the seller accepting that offer?
As a listing agent I’m going to want to know the buyer has the ability to close, and I want them to close right now, or as very soon as possible.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 31 – David, you don’t understand real estate or agency. My job as a buyer’s agent isn’t to tell the seller’s agent when I’m presenting an offer that I think the lender is an idiot. It’s the seller’s agent’s responsibility to ask questions, and many times they don’t, for one reason or another. Maybe that lack of questioning is justified, and maybe it isn’t. It would depend on the situation.
I take these things seriously because if I ever did have a client at risk of losing an earnest money I would feel responsible for that, and would likely cover their loss, depending on the situation (e.g. I probably wouldn’t cover the loss if they made a decision I told them not to make and they made it anyway).
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Krismer, 29 posts and you account for 14 of them (so far).
Don’t you ever get tired (or full) of yourself ?
Why not give it (and the readers) a break ?
Response Optional.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Passed Doo @ 33 – Only two of those were not in response to what someone else said.
If you don’t like what I write, you are not forced to read them. You can stay uninformed, or if you only read some of the posters here, misinformed. Not my problem either way.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 32 –
I’ve got to go back to work.
That is just a load of something, misdirection at best.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 35 – Give me a break. If something is over your head, or you can’t understand it, just say so. Don’t pretend that it doesn’t make sense.
You’re the one who claimed I didn’t understand real estate. You don’t even understand the most basic concepts of who represents who, and what they do!
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 36 –
Before the listing agent takes a property off market they will check to see that the buyer has the ability to close. In many, if not most, cases that will mean a conversation with the lender in addition to the letter of pre approval.
If it’s a cash offer then the listing agent asks for a proof of funds.
It’s that simple.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 37 – That is basically what I said, but I provided more detail.
But you called it “a load of something” and “misdirection.”
Like I said, give me a break. I’m tired of you not understanding even the basics and then making negative comments about my posts. When you don’t understand either ask a question nicely or STFU!
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 38 – Kary, Stop wasting his time! Can’t you read!. He knows it better then you dammit. :)
Lol. This interchange was a blast with my morning cup of coffee almost spilling out of my nostrils.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: mukoh @ 39 – RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 38 –
I’m not asking anything, you have nothing to offer here.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 40 – No, David, you have nothing to offer here.
I explained why I use Form 22AA when I represent BUYERS. One reason was the buyer using a possibly flaky lending officer. You came back and said the SELLER’S agent should know that. I explained that in that scenario I represented the BUYER. I also explained that the SELLER’S agent should typically ask questions about the lender, but that there are sometimes reasons they might not. You came back calling that “a load of something” and “misdirection.”
Nothing you have said has in any way refuted the reason that I use Form 22AA. It’s only shown that you don’t even understand the most basic concept of real estate–who the agent represents! Why I use Form 22AA, or how the contingencies of Form 22A (financing) work are beyond you entirely.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 40 – Dear David, as an agent (albeit part time from your cleaning biz) to tell someone like me who is a buyer and a seller that I don’t have anything to offer I hope you are being a gentle kidder like you always have been. I enjoy the laughter you provide for its entertainment value you are priceless!
Rate this comment:
0 
0
The reality of this argument is defining it in terms of lenient vs stringent doesn’t really hit the nail on the head. The entire course and licensing requirements need to be much broader to incorporate the changes currently needed due to technological advances.
By that I don’t mean that they need to teach new technologies. The weakest link is that the newer agents no longer have the benefit of being in close proximity to the day to day dealings of experienced agents, due to technological advances that allow everyone to work from outside of the office. New agents don’t get to shadow and model after successful agents (successful to their client’s objective) the way they have always been able to in the past.
Doing a few transactions in a year does not give a new agent the needed “experience” to be proficient. Working in close proximity to top notch agents is what gave them the working knowledge of how real estate transactions actual play out in the real world.
Those experienced agents are no longer within ear shot of the newer agents. The entire system of training agents has to step up to compensate for that loss. But it will not. It is not going to happen. That is why those who opt for “just dumb it down and reduce the commissions accordingly” are likely coming up with the best answer for consumers.
I don’t know about taking it down to the cost of a candy bar :). But somewhere between a candy bar and many thousands for adequate representation, is likely the best answer for most people.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: mukoh @ 42 –
I don’t find anything amusing about you.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: ARDELL @ 43 –
Sorry, that kind of makes sense, but the Real Estate business hasn’t changed with the advancement of technology.
Let’s take this simple low inventory discussion. What that means is that more agents need to do is get away from the computer and talk to people who probably should sell.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 44 –
Sorry, I’m always happy to head to head with you. If you want to make a case for today’s Real Estate Investor, go ahead.
Quippy comments are a waste of my time, once again.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 46 – Priceless.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 47 – LOL. That was. Classy as usual.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: mukoh @ 48 – RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 47 –
Quippy
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 45 –
I understand what you are saying, David. But the movement toward the internet is so that people aren’t talked into things by fast talking salespeople. You seem to be saying that there are many people who would sell their home if some agent came knocking on their door and annoyed them into doing that. Convinced them they would be better of selling. Left to their on devices they would stay and not sell their home.
While I might agree that could put more homes on the market, I don’t agree that would be a good thing, all things considered. I’d much rather have low inventory.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: ARDELL @ 50 – What David has said is that rather than complaining about low inventory, that agents should go around knocking on doors to see if the owner would be interested in selling to their client. He’s gone over this before. Presumably if someone finally says yes, he would preview the house and then bring his client out there to see it.
If this were a relationship site, he would probably recommend the same thing for single men wanting a wife. ;-)
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 45 –
The manner in which agents attain competency has changed. You and I had the benefit of all agents being in the office. We could hear the other agents speaking with their clients. We could gain a lot of knowledge simply from being in the same room, without even talking to those agents.
That no longer exists.
The Licensing Requirements have not changed much and I doubt they will ever grow enough to replace the knowledge an agent gained inside an office before most of the agents were able to and did work from home. Most offices are like ghost towns these days. Or full of agents who want to know something and void of most agents who know what they hope to learn.
Agents never learned the business from the brokers. They learned it from being exposed to the most active agents who talked on land-lines inside the office. That is why there was rarely a fully closed office inside a real estate office. Even the offices with doors had an opening at the top so sound could carry out. At least 60% of agent training came from being on the inside and hearing all of the transactions going on around them.
Do you think licensing requirements can ever fill that void?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
By ARDELL @ 52:
I agree you learn by doing.
The same is true in the law, where law school for the most part doesn’t teach you how to practice law. My favorite story in that regard is from when the partner I worked for walked up to me and asked me to prepare an “Order Shortening Time.” I just stared at him, and wondered how powerful he thought he was! ;-)
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 53 –
Actually I said you learn by watching people do. Watching and listening to 20 agents do teaches you more and more quickly than doing the few transactions that come your way in the first year or two. I used a combination of methods.
As to your example it reminds me of my first day of work (at the bank) when a V.P. came out and barked at me to go get a “check stretcher”. I said “Yes, Sir!” and scampered off. I could hear people snickering behind me as if I didn’t know he was pulling my leg. I grabbed the cardboard back off of a note tablet, a rubber band and two paper clips. I quickly pulled the rubber band around the cardboard, attached the two paper clips to the rubber band and clipped the check between the two paper clips. I handed it to him and said “Here you go, Sir!” and sat back down and continued to work.
I was never very good at blank stares. You’ll have to teach that to me sometime. :)
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: ARDELL @ 52 –
The first company I worked for had an owner who was a Real Estate developer. They had an in house lender, and escrow. If you needed a different lender they had an agreement with a Mortgage Broker where we all knew each other. It was all very in house kind of stuff.
My first Broker did teach me the business, actually his assitant Broker taught me more about the business. These guys never let you sleep, you were never alone, and if you weren’t showing up your license went back to Olympia. They made money if you were performing.
They also made me buy my first two properties. It was like a rule.
I went to Coldwell Banker because they had a training program that was required for any new agent. It was a great set of classes, but the office was a big waste of time. The Broker was, and still is, a pushy little pick.
I went back to my original company, to a different office, and a different Broker who really had a way of making things work.
You could be in your cubicle talking on the phone, and Kenny would crouch on the other side to listen to your conversation. When you were done he would tell you what you did right, or wrong. He was a hoot.
Again, you had to keep showing up or they gave your desk away.
Yes, I agree, the business has changed. New agents really have a hard time making that leap into sales, or the business of Real Estate. I think that’s why Mike Ferry has such a big following now.
That is another thing that occurs to me. We used to have great mentors, like Tommy Hopkins who we went to see, regularly. I also did Dale Carnegie classes, Dana Institute, Barb Schwartz, and yes, even Denise Lones. There was a real mix of mentors, many I forget, but you lived, breathed, talked, and walked Real Estate.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: ARDELL @ 50 –
What I’m saying is that the internet seems to cater more to buyers than sellers.
Sellers need much more interaction in order to get a property to market. Many sellers interact with agents who are active in the area they live. Some may be expired, or cancelled listings, but most want to see an agent in the field working.
I can usually spot houses that are on the way to the market. It doesn’t take much. Maybe it’s the way the yard is kept, or the way the property has been maintained. It’s kind of simple to run a Realist report at the end of the day, maybe drop a card in the mail.
You’re out anyway, so what’s the harm?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 55 –
That Kenny sounds like a hoot. Do you remember his full name? Is he still around?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: ARDELL @ 57 –
Sure, he lives in my neighborhood, and has been retired for decades.
The other thing is that we wore suits, and business attire. So the image of Kenny crouching around the office isn’t like a high school prank, well even though it was.
Another point is that Kenny is retired, lots of the bad old days of Real Estate people are retired with rental income. The face of the Real Estate agent has changed into one of a sales person rather than a person involved, deeply involved, in the industry.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
RE: David Losh @ 58 –
I find Agents who become “deeply involved” are the WORST of the WORST and inhibit the transaction. I’m happy “Kenny” crapped out and retired in this new era of real estate and technology!
Rate this comment:
0 
0