BACKGROUND
Active Rain went down for maintenance while I was checking my blog this morning.  Not a problem.  However, when I am thwarted, I do what any full blooded American woman will do, I SHOP.  A quick trip to the super market would get me back to my home office before the phone started to ring.  Not too many good calls this time of the year, but a good buyer can call any time.  So, I stick around as much as possible.  I have approximately 1,750 hours of work on my "TO DO" list and that includes no house cleaning.

                              

Most of my Saturday telephone calls are folks who call me on their cell phone calling for addresses of homes for sale.  They are backing out of their driveway and realize that there are no addresses on the listings that they printed from my web site.  I don't have addresses on my IDX site.  So they call with the worthless excuse that they just want to "drive by and if we like the neighborhood, we'll call you".  HA!!  How many times did I hear that before I got wised up about 2 weeks after I got the IDX site up in about 1998 and took the addresses off.  Actually, I got a complaint call from a home owner when a guy knocked on the front door and wanted to walk through the house for sale.  The owner/seller asked if his agent was meeting him there.  "No, I don't have an agent, I got this off the Internet."  He gave the owner/seller the page on from the IDX site that he had printed.  Of course, it had my name, photo, telephone number, etc. right there on the flyer.  The seller called his agent and his agent called me outraged that I had sent a person out to tour the home without an agent.  I explained that I don't know who the person was.  After explaining to the listing agent WHAT HOMESDATABASE.COM was, she calmed down.  I don't believe that she even knew what the Internet was. 

I immediately removed addresses from the web site and never put them back.  Folks can find the addresses on other web sites if they want to go to the trouble, but they'll never get it from my IDX site.  Once I took the addresses off the listings, most of the telephone calls I get on Saturday and Sunday are people who want to "drive by" or "check out the neighborhood".  Or, one of my favorites, "I'm doing my own research, I'll select an agent when I'm ready".  O.K.  Fine.  These prospective buyers can call anyone, if they don't already have an agent and they often do.  So, until they are ready to be seen in the company of an agent, they can just, as I've suggested, drive around until they find what they want.  On Sunday, they call for the address to visit the Open House that the listing agents put in the PUBLIC/INTERNET REMARKS, WHICH IS AGAINST THE MLS RULES, RULES THAT ARE COMPLETELY UNENFORCED.  I'm digressing, but the background is important because it's Saturday and the calls I get will probably be from folks who DO NOT want to work with an agent.  So, on the way to the super market. . . . . .

LENN HAD AN EPIPHANY
It came to me that one of the reasons buyers and sellers often do not appreciate what we do is because we persist in presenting the wrong image.  Prior to the Internet, real estate agents and brokers found success much easier than today.  You got your license, started to learn about real estate markets, documents, real estate law, CMAs, tax records and the rest of the research that new agents did if they had guidance from a good broker.  You spend many hours on phone duty because there were buyers and sellers calling on signs and walking through the front LOOKING FOR AN AGENT TO HELP THEM.  You might have developed a farm area to begin to walk, send information, brochures, perhaps even telephone to introduce yourself and get your name out there.  In the mean time, if you were lucky, you helped your friends and relatives with their real estate needs.  You attended classes to learn what you didn't learn in real estate licensing classes, that YOU NEED MONEY TO ESTABLISH a real estate practice.  Most new licensee's employment world had been in a 9-5 job or military where the environment was structured.  Real estate sales and brokerage is a very unstructured business.  Real estate, however, is a business and the investments of time and money must be made to succeed as in any business. 

From the 1950s, real estate information has been accessible through the MLSs.  Few residential brokerages even tried to exist without this critical tool.  The MLS was the repository of active listings of homes for sale and SOLD information and it was closely held with stiff fines for agents who disgorged listings to folks not entitled, meaning they paid their dues.  Up until the early 1990s, the vast majority of agents were sub-agents of the listing broker and buyer's agency was just waiting for some smart brokerages to realize that there was money in them there buyer's agency agreement.  It was, indeed, a cozy little world with success depending on the luck of location and capital to invest until your real estate practice was profitable.  The only brokers who charged less than 95% of all the rest were a very few HelpYouSell offices and FSBOs which were treated like lepers.  What a nice little world we lived in.  Home inspection??  Who ever heard of them?  Leaking basements not disclosed??  To bad. 

ENTER THE INTERNET - AND A REVOLUTION IN REAL ESTATE PRACTICE
Now, rather than compete with each other, real estate and brokers trying to practice real estate brokerage must compete with NON REAL ESTATE ENTITIES  for access to buyers and sellers.   The basis upon which real estate agents promoted themselves in the past, personal promotion, now have little relevance in a world where 70% and growing of buyers use the Internet to begin their home buying adventure.  In the electronic world, listing agent must compete directly with on line aggregators of seller leads for the first contact with prospective seller / clients.  Buyer's agents must compete directly with on line aggregators for the first contact with prospective home buyers.  If the aggregators' web site is more prominent on the Internet page than that of real estate practitioners, the aggregator will get the consumer's first contact and the first contact is often the only contact a buyer or seller will make.  Sellers provide their contact information in order to get market value information about selling their home.  The aggregator sells that information to a subscribing agent or broker willing to pay the fee rather than have that buyer or seller go to another agent or broker who relies on buying leads for their business.  Agents who do not garner a sufficient share of buyer or seller leads from their own resources or advertising, must pay lead fees or referral fees for the buyer or seller contacts. 

Agents and brokers who are not Internet savvy or have resources to buy these services have little chance of succeeding in this very competitive atmosphere.  In fact, one of the ways these aggregators succeed is by giving the false impression to buyers and sellers that by using their services, which are FREE to the consumer, they will be introduced to experienced agents who are somehow better than agents who are not a part of their particular network.  Additionally, by offering simple home valuation information and access to homes listed for sale, the real estate practitioner is relegated to the last step in the buying or selling process.  Once the real estate practitioner loses two of their most valuable assets, LISTING AND SOLD INFORMATION, we MUST begin to promote skills and abilities that ONLY experienced agents and brokers have.  We MUST go back to the basics and start promoting our services and demand payment based on WHAT WE KNOW, not on what we do.  We need to sell our experience and knowledge. 

WE CAN EASILY JUSTIFY OUR FEE
Why are our fees under attack?  I believe that one reason is because too much focus has been on the reliance by many agents and brokers on the MLS.  The MLS is a wonderful tool.  But, it is a tool developed, maintained, propagated and disseminated by licensed agents and brokers who pay fees to participate.  But, it's just a list and that horse has left the barn.  Once the listing information was disseminated through the Internet, the perceived value of real estate practitioners was diminished.  Further, now that non-real estate entities have access to buyers and sellers often before the real agents and brokers, our value is further diminished because we often no longer have that important "FIRST CONTACT" with the consumer.  There is a lead aggregator assuming the role of "EXPERT" in the agents selection process before real estate practitioners have actual personal contact by phone, e-mail or in person. 

IF YOU DON'T ADVERTISE MUCH, YOU CAN'T CHARGE MUCH.  I just reviewed about 50 Maryland real estate web sites and they are all very close in their personal promotion.  Paramount in what the site owners are promoting are:
1.  High level of service.
Agents claim to offer a high level of service, but don't say what the services are.
2.  Know the neighborhood
Tout knowledge of the neighborhoods without outlining what the neighborhoods are.  With keywords for vast geographical areas, this is confusing for single area sites. 
3.  Honesty, Integrity, Care
If I were a consumer, I would be very glad to find an agent who is honest, has integrity and will work with care, since if this agent is touting themselves as honest, have integrity and will work with care, the implication is that other or most agents are not honest, do not have integrity and will not work with care. 
4.  Accessibility
A single agent can only be accessible to one person at a time.  There are only so many weekend hours.
5.  Competence
In what??  The sites don't really say how they are competent.  No mention of education, training or continuing education.
6.  Value
For buyers, they tout no fee.  For sellers, they tout "reasonable" or "competitive" fees.                                      
WE CAN EASILY JUSTIFY OUR FEES.  What these web sites do is neglect the skills and experience of most agents.  These same promotional claims could have included:
1.  Our agents participate in higher skill training and broker training to make sure that they have the latest skills and experience to serve you in a professional manner. 
2.  Our agents live in and sell in the areas of your search, know the neighborhoods, the schools, shopping, transportation alternatives and more to help you select a home that meets your needs.
3.  I WOULDN'T TOUT HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND CARE because it is an insult to every other agent and broker in the business.  I have known honest but incompetent agents.  How much can an agent or broker charge for HONESTY and INTEGRITY.
4.  Our agents work hard to be available for tours during the weekdays and weekends.  We work with only a few clients at a time and will work hard with you until you find the best home for you.
5.  Our agents have training and experience to manage your real estate transaction.  Our goal is a smooth transaction from home selection to settlement.  We have extensive training in the correct forms, license law and federal, state and county regulations that would affect your home choice.  Our agents have the training and experience to work through complicated contracting, home inspection and other transaction management matters to get you to a successful settlement. 
6.  Our fees reflect the degree of training and experience to serve your needs.  Understanding your real estate needs is important and our fee is based on your individual real estate needs. 

GRANT ME ONE PREMISE
I submit that even an agent right out of real estate school will generally have more real estate knowledge and experience than the average home buyer or seller.  Of course,  experience will make a newer agent better and better with each closed (or not closed) transaction.  But, I operate on the premise that our agents, most agents and brokers have VASTLY more knowledge and experience than the average buyer or seller.  WHY DON'T WE PROMOTE OUR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE.  An experienced agent is worth every penny of the fees that they charge even if it is high.  What is high???  Personal service fees are based on what the market will bear.  There are no controls and no limits on our fees except that which we implement ourselves because competition is very stiff.  Agent to agent, one agent will justify and charge a higher fee because they have the experience and knowledge to be able to SELL THEMSELVES AND THEIR FEES.  Agents with less experience simply cannot compete and will, by necessity, charge less.  They will also make less than the experienced agent on the same number of contacts simply because they will have more failed transactions, lose more buyers, have fewer listing sell timely (or even sell) and their advertising dollars will not go as far because they must present their services to more buyers and sellers for business than the experienced agent who can talk the talk and walk the walk.  Experience sells real estate services.  Tell buyers and sellers why your fees are higher than some.  Compare the servcies and the level of experience with that of the fee for service or MLS only broker.  I'll compare my experience to any discount, fee for service or MLS only broker in the Maryland or Virginia real estate market any day of the week.  I had a Maryland home buyer ask me last week if we rebated any of our fee back to the buyer.  They had just spoken with an agent who rebated a full 1.5% back to the buyer.  I suggested that IT IS THEY WHO CANNOT JUSTIFY THEIR FEE.  When she found out that they do not attend showings, home inspections or settlement, things looked a bit different to her.  One of our agents is taking her out tomorrow.  We can justify our fee.                                                                                                                              
WHY DO MY BUYERS THINK THAT I WALK ON WATER?
Because I tell them so.  Well, not in those very words.  However, through every step of a real estate transaction, from first contact to post settlement, I am a problem solver.  Real estate transactions are fraught with problems and pitfalls.  Experienced agents know how to overcome them and get to the next step.  For one thing, if an agent or broker has settled a fair number of sales, they will have experienced so many actions on the part of buyers and sellers and other agents, inspectors, appraisers, lenders that we can usually avoid problems.  When a situation comes up with a contract, do we solve it and learn from it??  Of course we do.  So, the next time an agent with experienced may do things a bit differently from the average unexperienced agent who is still in the trial and error state of their real estate career. 

Experiences go into our memory banks and we draw on them when a situation arises where we can give advice to resolve differences in our clients' best interest.  From the first meeting to the settlement table, we should be touting our knowledge and experience so that buyers and sellers are comfortable with our representation and will rely on us for advice.  That is the role we should always play manage smooth transactions.  When we can assure prospective buyers and sellers that, through our experience and knowledge, they will have a smooth transaction, we CAN charge good fees and our clients will be HAPPY to pay them. 

The nicest thing a real estate practitioner can hear from a satisfied buyer or seller is THINGS WENT VERY SMOOTHLY.  JUST AS YOU SAID IT WOULD.

FOR THAT, WE CAN CHARGE A LOT OF MONEY