Woman's Day Gives Bad Real Estate Advice

I just came across an article called 10 Things Your Real Estate Agent Won't Tell You published on womansday.com. Ms. Sarah Stebbins, a free lance writer, seems to have cobbled together negative bits and pieces from other works, including the The Home Buying Kit For Dummies. I am disappointed that a respectable organization like Woman's Day would publish this inaccurate and misleading article.

Some of unpleasant and just plain offensive lines:

"An agent who wants to make a quick sale might not share information a buyer could find unappealing about the neighborhood, like an office building going up on the street, or a registered sex offender who lives a few houses down."

"Moe Veissi, president of the National Association of Realtors and a broker in Miami, suggests asking realtors about area schools, crime statistics, parks, hospitals and whatever else is important to you..."

"Still, it’s a good idea to ask directly about upcoming construction projects and the proximity of sex offenders before closing a deal."

Brokerages offer agents a bigger cut of the commission if they sell in-house listings, says Tyson."

It’s common for a listing agent to let other brokers at his firm know about a “hot new property” before posting it in the multiple listing service....He gets a better commission split if he lines up an in-house agent.”

My comment on the article:

Ms. Stebbins you apparently have credentials as a magazine editor (Martha Stewart Weddings and Instyle) and freelance writer (Glamour, Women's Health), but your lack of understanding of the role of a professional Realtor® is astonishing.

We all have bad experiences with people in every job, from physicians to accountants to dog groomers, but respectable professionals rarely make the mistake of condemning entire groups based on a few bad experiences. 

In this difficult housing market, with millions  of homeowners still struggling to make tough decisions, it is discouraging that a respected publication like Woman's Day would publish such a one-sided and negative article.  I will comment on just a few of the issues raised:

I don't know a single firm in the Chicago metro area that pays agents more to sell in-house listings. At the suggestion of the IL Association of Realtors®, most firms do separate long term (10 years in IL) record keeping fees from sales commission. The record keeping cost is the same regardless of the sales price of the house, and should not be variable the way commission is.

I sincerely doubt that Moe Veissi suggested you ask a realtor (sic) about schools and crime statistics: by law we are not allowed to provide many types of information. And what exactly is a Realtor® supposed to know about hospitals?

Ms. Stebbins, if you ever want to talk to real clients -- rather picking over the bones of other people's work -- I could give you the names of 100s of agents and brokers who would happily give you many, many clients to talk to. 

And could you let us know if you work for free, as a free-lance writer? Or do you, too, work on commission?

Finally, Realtor®  is a trademark of the National Association of Realtors® and is not interchangeable with the term real estate agent.