NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/consumer/house/14902

Text File | 1992-11-21 | 2.6 KB | 52 lines

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!att!ulysses!allegra!princeton!mccc!pjh
From: [e-mail] (Pete Holsberg)
Subject: Re: How to tell a REAL buyer's agent
Organization: The College On The Other Side Of Route One
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 01:36:54 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Lines: 41

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Allen Warren) writes:
=Geez, must have left my latest and greatest acronym dictionary at home
=again.  =)  What does FSBO mean?

For Sale By Owner:a scheme in which a homeowner decides to save the 6%
that would have been paid to brokers. You'll note that in the case of
our other correspondent, it didn't work!

=I used to date a realtor, and for the amount of work she did, working
=from sunrise to 9:00 or 10:00 or late at night, no weekends off, showing
=houses at a moments notice, showing houses to potential buyers for
=weeks or months and then they decide maybe they're not ready to buy,
=etc., etc.,

Amen.

=I would have to say that the realtors who really care
=(I'd say about half) work very hard for their money.  I know that I
=personally wouldn't work in the business since the hours are just too
=crazy and long.  I think that the ones who are grossly overpaid are the
=realtors who open their own agency.  They treat the salespeople working
=for them like dirt, make the salespeople pay for office space, business
=cards, etc. and the agency owners just sit back and rake in the dough.

Do you have a sample of more than one to draw this conclusion from?
Realtors are not employees of agencies; they are independent
contractors. That is, they are free to move their business to any other
agency. Some agencies do not provide any services for their realtors,
but they pay a significantly higher commission.

=I guess that I'm agreeing with you in that real estate is fundamentally
=a dishonest business in some respects, but then, I think plumbers and
=electricians, etc. are grossly overpaid as well.  Considering what software
=I write, what it does, the fact that I sweated out over 4 years of college,
=etc. and then compare all this to being a plumber and I think there's a
=GROSS inequity factor here.

That's life. There's no such thing as "fair". Do you see anything
unequal in paying a pro athlete $8 zillion per year? After all, while he
went to college, he probably majored in coaching and produces no software
at all. Or take Michael Jackson or Madonna! :-)