How do you know which agent is good or not?

Some really good blog posts lately have touched upon this topic.

Danilo and Tony at real/diaBlog blogged Monday and said "It's time to clean up real estate".

And they don't think brokerages will do that job.

"(Brokerages).... have their business models set up so that low producing, part-time and ineffective agents cost nothing to support/sponsor. Therefore, if an agent only sells one house they will in essence become a profitable commodity. The commission and fee structures are set up in such a way that the mediocre agents are the bread and butter of a brokerage firm. They will not be receptive to any restrictions that could limit agent counts."

Many end consumers have problems separating a franchise brokerage brand from individual agents.

Maureen Francis of miOaklandcounty.com posted this last week in regards to "Separating the brokerage from the agent":

"Our real estate licenses are kept with one broker who is responsible for supervising us. But we act very independently, and there is little that can be done to ensure that all of the agents working for one broker live up to one high set of standards. Unfortunately, that is just a reality of the way this business is structured. If you go to a McDonald's Restaurant anywhere in the world, you can expect that the burger will taste pretty much the same. But if you go to a Re/Max, Century 21, or, for that matter, even a Sotheby's International Realty, you cannot be assured that all of the agents are the same within that brand."

So what's a real estate consumer to do?  Read More