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Do you think real estate agents statistics should be public?

It's a common situation I'm sure many agents have come across. You are talking with a seller or buyer who you want as a client. The client mentions that he/she is also interviewing several other agents and gives you their names.

Since I want to know my competition, I look them up on the MLS. What I find is that the majority of listings this agent has taken on never sold. Many of them were canceled and others simply expired. The ones that did sell spent a very long time on the market. I know it takes a while to sell a home now, but these homes take even longer.

I would love to tell this to the potential client, but my ethics prevent me from doing so. I can't stand political campaigns that constantly advertise the faults of others and gives no details of how this individual can help us. Therefore I concentrate on what I can do for the client, what value I bring to the table, and don't mention the other agents.

Still, I do feel that consumers have no real way of differentiating the effective real estate agents from the ineffective ones. From watching consumer forums online, I constantly hear complaints about how someone paid for a full service agent that did nothing for them and never sold or took extremely long to sell their property.

The simplest solution is to allow sellers and buyers to see information such as

How many transactions (as selling and listing agent) has the agent closed on for the last 2 years, 1 year, 6 months...
For listings, how many days on average were they on the market
Statistics about the price of homes the agent sold (buyers and sellers)
Number of canceled and expired failed to sell homes for the agent for different periods of time
Percentage of the sales price listings sold for
Percentage of the listing price received for buyers

With this information, buyers and sellers will be able to more easily differentiate the bad agents from the good ones. Moreover, many of the worst agents - who hang their signs throughout the area but rarely sell a property - will be weeded out.

This will also improve the perception of agents, as consumers who do their homework by looking up these statistics will be more satisfied with the results.

Posted by Nelya Calev on 10/07/2008 05:25 PM

Comments (58)

Do You Think Real Estate Agents Statistics Should Be Public? in the ActiveRain Channel

agent, discolosure, mls, statistics, real estate, realtor, histories, sales

Originally posted at: Nelya's Blog: Do you think real estate agents statistics should be public?

This post has been included in Washington Information

58 Comments on Do you think real estate agents statistics should be public?

OCT

2008

All I can say is "past performance is no guarantee of future results".

Hi Nelya. I agree with Rich completely, but we also give them a sheet in the pre-listing package that gives them questions they should ask all the realtors they interview with. And we also give them questions they should continue to ask their realtors after they have made the decision to help them make sure its the right one. We should never be tearing down another person to get a client. Just my two cents.

Hi Nelya, you brought out some excellent points that buyers and sellers really do need to ask the agents they interview. And I do agree that ethically we can’t bash another agent but we certainly can point out what our DOM average is and LP/SP figures are. If you make a point of it doing your listing presentation most likely it will be something they will ask the others applying.

Unfortunately all real estate agents aren’t created equal and your right – the public needs to know that

Raleigh Realtor – Pamela St. Peter

Oh, there are sites out there that try to rate agents on such things. Sorry, but there's more to what we do than the numbers. It's a people business, and numbers-only ignores all the complexity of the circumstances that led to the results in question.

The interest in reducing Realtors to measurable machines is the same impetus to try replacing us with websites. It's fine to try using stats to back up your position, but there's too much else in the equation than the story the numbers seem to tell. Same with most other businesses.

In Tampa, real estate agents sales figures ARE common knowledge and published quarterly. It's called The Kenst Report. It ranks us in all categories. Agents and offices. It's great! Makes it hard for new agents. In this market, if you are a consumer, what else can you go by?

http://www.headofrealestate.com

Well this proposition makes choosing an agent seem like choosing who to vote for in the upcoming election: one candidate has lots of experience, the other very little. However, the one with more experience may NOT be the best one for the job. As a new agent (licensed in 2006) I have a limited number of sales under my belt and just during the last 6 months my ratio of closed escrows has dropped from 100% to 50% when I had a couple of deals fall through. Instead of trying to convince a potential client that my experience is what will make me a good agent for them, I try to sell my strengths like professionalism, a true concern for my clients and my willingness to go the extra mile for them. If I were faced with a report like this, I would remind the potential client of that old adage: Quality is better than quantity.

Wouldn't you want to see evidence of past perfomance from your Surgeon? Your attorney? Your childcare provider?

Then why would it be unreasonable for the public to see your past perfomance? If you are truly worthy of the prospective client's business, you should relish the ability to show him/her/them proof that you actually can perform as advertised.

Cameron Novak
Corona Short Sale Specialist
The Homefinding Center^TM
Corona, California
951-212-7479

Corona Real Estate Agent Profile

Neyla, It's not against the code of ethics for you to give your statistics and ask the clients if the others can match that. You can also use a graph to show the advantages of your marketing versus unamed competitors.

Neyla,

This is a very interesting situation, and I feel that it does happen from time to time to all of us. Have you ever talked to these clients after their listings have expired?

In theory this would make real estate a "better place"

Unfortunately what I see in our area is. . . .The best, honest, ethical, educated and professional agents are NOT always the Top Producers.

A Top Producer is most likely the better Salesperson not the better Realtor.

ABR realtor in florida

As a consumer, I would be strongly for statistics like this. I have gone through several nightmare agents as have my coworkers and friends. We did interview these agents but from experience a good spiel doesn't mean the agent is knowledgeable about the market. If I have one agent come in asking for 1% and another asking for 3%, I need to see some hard numbers from the 3% agent to justify her commission. She may be a great talker and have prettier fliers, but it is results I am interested in.

I am with Rich, past performance and all that fun stuff! I also sell plenty of new construction which is not listed in the MLS so my <buyer> sales record would be just a little slim. I am also referring out short sales now so my listing sales record is pretty dismal now, although the agent I am referring them to has a GREAT record of closing short sales!

Respectfully, a very interesting post.

Agent MLS statistics are not a reliable source of information. For example, what happens if agents that are involved in a FSBO transactions?

Then you have agents that have relocated to other companies. The agent may get to "take" the listing with them to the new broker, however, any commissioin received would go to the original listing broker to be split with the agent.

Plus referrals, and relocations. How did these agents get the business to begin with? Some real estate companies charge their agents for in-house leads.

There are lots of variables in deciding who "consumers" want to weed out.

These stats are too easy to manipulate.

I know agents who team with others and all sales/listings are in the name of the team leader. Some brokers take credit for several agents' transactions in the MLS and then advertise the stats.

Stats don't reflect the compatibility of agent to seller, or agent to buyer. We're in a very personal relationship business.

I only sell new construction and they are rarely recorded in the MLS. How could a buyer or another agent, for that matter to "check up on me?"

I think when we meet with a potential listing client that is finding out what their needs are and making sure that we can meet those needs with our services. If we get into mud-slinging or try and suggest that another agents current sales record isn't as good as yours is only going to cause trouble.

I think it is important for you to know your OWN NUMBERS and give them to prospective clients if you want to. I get my business from referrals, which means...I got the job done.

Ah, yes. Statistics. Give me the data and tell me what you want it to say. Stats can be so very easily manipulated, maneuvered and mauled over. To open these up to the public would be very unfair........ to the public. The agent who gets 99.4 percent, on average, of the listing price? She's not good. She's listing homes too low, thereby getting less than she should. The public would see her success rate and think she is awesome. Numbers are history. Maybe the best question for a seller to ask is "What are you going to do to sell my home, over and above what all the others do?"

Interesting idea. I think it would be good.

I think I might start posting my stats on my website.

I'd love to see some stats of agents here on ActiveRain. It's one thing to write about selling real estate and it's another thing to actually be getting results. The latest listing I took, the seller said something to that effect. He said that anyone can write stuff on a website but he wanted to know if I thought that I could really get his home sold. All I could do was show him my plan and show him my past results.

I think it's better that we are not allowed to talk about another Realtor (Canadian REBBA CODE of ETHICS). What you consider (talking to potential Clients about other Agents) would open the doors of verbal abuse and other nasty stuff. It would take away any chances of succeeding form new Realtors, those who's first, second or tenth sale is just around the corner. It would seam that by talking about your competition (and I know that you don't, and that this was just a rhetorical question that you posted) with a potential Client, you do have their best interest in mind, but do you? Or would it be your best interest that you are concerned about? If we were allowed to do this, would you be truly be able to restrain from saying too much? I can't say that I would be, for sure... Just look at this from all angles.

To be honest, many of the responses here show the exact reasons why people don't like real estate agents. Sure, statistics can be manipulated to a degree and coming up with the proper set of statistics is an interesting challenge, but if I'm going to entrust someone with my biggest financial asset, I want hard data showing that they have succeeded in the past.

Sure, the agent can disclose this information herself, but I have no way of verifying whether the agent lied. At least Redfin has the boldness to include some statistics about their agents. From the above I am seeing a lot of excuses but no solutions.

I put my money where my mouth is and show my stats. There are other agents with better stats and certainly those with far worse. But, I never do less than I say I will and I always deliver the truth. It's a great way to do business. I recommend new agents joing a team if possible and using the team stats. A proven track record speaks volumes. I too, like to deal with experienced professionals when I am making important decisions.

I agree with you, I don't really see anything to hide. It would prevent agents from creating a false perceptionand and riding on the coat tails of their successors. Funny I should login and read this post first... We just got done reading agent stats in the MLS two seconds ago.

Nelya,

I have no problem with those types of statistics being available. Being that we are one of top agents in our area, would certainly help us : ) . I guess it would not be too difficult to have those stats available. Also, not for nothing, without bad-mouthing your competition, there is nothing wrong at looking and going over the statistics with the potential client, would it ? Something to consider....

Nelya, Good Post I always ask if and who they are interviewing and If they tell me then I pull their numbers along with mine and present just like a CMA. If they don't tell me then I pull the top five and ask where the agents that they are interviewing are. I present the facts and then try to sell my Plan of Action and why they should choose me.

Hi Nelya: I show stats and I print-out MLS reports of the competition, too. I also bring Trendgraphix reports which shows the comparison among brokerages in a myriad of ways. I'm all for transparency in real estate. But I don't dwell on it.

Plenty of agents puff about being a specialist in a neighborhood when they've never sold anything in the area. I don't feel it is professional to point out the mistakes of others; I let the stats do the talking and people can figure it out for themselves. If sellers want to know where they can find this information online, I point them to the appropriate web sites. Should stats be more transparent for sellers? Yes, they should because it would take us out of the middle of being expected to provide it.

I spend my time at listing presentation talking about the 30 things I am going to do to sell that seller's home and trying to assess the situation -- deciding if I want to work with the seller and if we are on the same page. The biggest problem is rarely the competition; it's whether the price is reasonable and if the seller is serious about selling.

Nelya, I have very mixed emotions about that one. For example, an agent may look great after so many of her listings sold...although it may very well have been other agents that sold them.

My very first year in RE I closed 32 transactions...sounds pretty good, huh? But two years after that I cut the transactions in half yet more than doubled my income!

I don't think numbers ought to play hardball when it comes to interviews. I also close transactions that are never even listed on the MLS.

Therefore, by giving MLS numbers you would still be inaccurate. I think we should sell ourselves by our own merits and keep the reporting of "private" statistics out of the mix. People are smart enough to go with the one that sells them and usually if you can sell them...you can sell others.

I think it's a bad idea. Thanks for listening to my thoughts! Great post!

Later in the rain~Deb

Hi Neyla,

I always bring my stats on listing presentations. And, I've now gotten in the habit of looking at other agents stats that I'm working with.

I agree with Pamela, I don't think we need to tear down other people to build ourselves up. Like Lenn said, I also have done lots of new construction sales that aren't in the MLS. Does that make me an unqualified agent? I don't think so. There are teams of agents that will manipulate the numbers. Also Rich made an excellent point. Life changes daily, the "superstar" agent last year, may be working at another job now and doing real estate part time. How effective are they? Consumers should ask for references. They should also find out how available their agent will be. What is their marketing plan? There are other ways to prequalify an agent than to use stats that can easily be manipulated. I hope that helps. By the way, I've had 6 closings this year that were not in either one of our listing services. The only way I could prove it would be to bring my closing statements, it's not listed anywhere. Good post, it obviously has people talking! :)

Nelya...First, great topic! I am afraid that I have to agree with Joe above; "To be honest, many of the responses here show the exact reasons why people don't like real estate agents" - Perception is reality. We have 4,000+ agents in our city and only 573 sales last month

Have talked with several homeowners who have put their faith, confidence and many times, financial future in the hands of an newly licensed agent (who has repeated what his trainer has told him enough times until he has found someone that believed it) only to learn after they went into foreclosure that this agent was not the "hotshot" that they were led to believe.

I know how I would feel after finding out that my agent was not the "Top Producer" they claimed.

Just my .02 worth.

Bobby Wallace

Nelya, I don't mind showing my statistics. I will bring them with me. Like Meyer said, there are agents that do more than me, but more do less. I think honesty is the best policy. I also believe the seller and the house have something to do with a successful transaction.

I think I have mixed emotions about this one also. After reading the comments others have very good arguments about why & how this could be wrong or go wrong.

Very interesting comments on this one ... quite the debate going on ... I love the sparks, good job!

pippa

Not sure on this one - I don't think bare facts paint a whole picture. Nine of the homes I sold last year were not in MLS records - they were in new home subdivisions or outside broker who do not report to our MLS. Plus, what if an agent is in 2 MLS systems, or more?

Hmm, Interesting point and I can see it going both ways, but here's my thoughts on the matter: Focus more on your own personal record than theirs. Maybe encourage the client to ask other agents about their records, let them know you're confident that your history of sales can't be beat and that you have a proven track record. At the end of the day, even if you were "allowed" it probably wouldn't be too helpful to go proclaiming how bad the other agents are to your potential clients, instead focus on how good you are.

I have discovered that the agents who say "numbers don't matter" are usually the agents without great numbers.

Yes, it is a "people business."

However, at the end of the day, you want your house sold for the most amount of money in the least amount of time. You want someone who can demonstrate that they have consistently done this for their clients.

Some agents say "well, there are so many things to consider." Yes, there are, but a closed sales with a fair price in minimal time is usually a great indicator of the agent being able to do all of those things.

Agents with great numbers prove that they can both talk the talk and more importantly, walk the walk.

It should all be public information.

Nelya: This could be a double edge sword. On the other hand.. just because someone may list and sell several homes... does this make thema great agent ??

You have to be careful with numbers and statistics.

Just remember the old saying "Figures don't lie, but liars figure!".

Nelya - I think it is a great idea. I understand that many agents feel that these numbers could be manipulated or not show the whole picture but it would be a heck of a lot better than what the consumer has right now - which is nothing at all.

Neyla,

As someone who is NOT a real estate agent I'm going to have to agree with you although this post sure seems to have ruffled a few feathers. The point is not about finding the top producing agent or excluding agents who sell new construction that doesn't appear in the MLS, or even part-time agents. If you only sell 2 houses a year but those were your only 2 listings and they sold quickly and at asking price then fine, your stats will still show that you can get the job done. The issue is to weed out agents who only sold 2 houses a year yet had 50 listings or agents who take listings at inflated asking prices simply to get the listing.

If I were you I would mrket my own stats and then encourage your clients to seek the same information from any other agents they are considering. Your numbers will speak for themselves.

Michelle

OCT

2008

Michelle @ above all financial srvsYou are right!!!! that was the point I was trying to make. I am actually a new agent myself, I only had few listings, but I sold them quickly and at asking price. I haven't had any canceled, expired, or failed to sale. Not to say I never will.

I am just sick of agents lying to consumers and saying.. Oh I have 30 listing. Yeah, but how many actually sold. Hmm let me see 2

Thank you ALL for you comments!!!

I have series of blogs like this one that came out in the past couple of days. And more is coming this week!

Hmmm. I can't decide whether or not I would want that information public. I can see pros and cons on either side.

I'm torn on this one. On one hand I can see how it would be helpful to the consumer, on the other hand I know how accuracy is not always the case.

Case in point: Me. I belong to two different MLS boards. In each there are missing transactions. In fact, when I looked into it yesterday about 30% of my transactions aren't there.

How would this look to a consumer? Why should the inaccuracy hurt me unfairly?

Absolutely not---that is private information and up to the agent to share. I really can't agree with that at all.

I understand your point and it is hard for sellers to differentiate who is actually doing the business out there. There's alot of B.S. and I mean 'bad statistics'. My first thought is: How is yours? Do you want your sales record - right now - out in the open for all to see? On a bill board near a major expressway?

It's tough out there now and you are looking to differentiate yourself from the masses but then again, like others have said, you could be shooting yourself in the foot with new construction, short sales, etc that is not often mentioned in the MLS stats.

Hi Nelya, Perhaps the easiest solution would be to present your personal information to the seller and invite them to compare. This may force the other agent to provide similar info .

Lyn Great point you are making.

The reason wrote this post is, recently I went on a listing presentation. Seller had a choice between me and another discount agent who only charges 1%. His question to me was how do I diferentiate you? I don't know you I don't know him. You all talk, the talk, but I need to know your numbers. He decided to go with the other agent because of the commission. Now the other agent mentioned to the client that his stats are great and bluhh bluhh bluhh....

When I pulled his stats on MLS he had 45 listing and only 2 sold, the rest were canselled, expired and failed to sell.

My numbers are not high I only had few listings, BUT I sold every single one of them, under two months, At 98% to 97% SP %LP

So the question that came to my mind is, if the seller had seen the truth would he have changed his mind.

I don't think that they need to be public, I think that the public can make its own decision based on the research that they do about an agent.

All of the posts that say that information about agents shouldn't be public and should be 'private to the agent' - this is why most consumers do not like agents.

Imagine you go to a heart surgeon ready to perform surgery on you.

"May I see statistics on how many of your operations were successful?"

"Sorry, this information is private to me and I choose not to disclose it".

THIS IS NOT YOUR PRIVATE INFORMATION! It is mine as a consumer. I'm the one trusting you with my largest asset and the information available right now for me to make an educated decision is pitiful.

To an extent, the stats aren't going to be meaningful to average Joe and Jane. Joe and Jane don't know what a bad DOM count is. They don't know how many transactions a month or year a "good" Realtor does. They might think that you have to do 4-5 transactions a month in order to be a Top Producer, but that's not true at all. I average 25-28 transactions a year when the average Realtor averages 9-11, but does Joe and Jane know what the National Average is?

Unless there were explanations to go along with the stats, I think they would be pointless except to other real estate people checking their own competition, but not useful for a buyer or seller looking for an agent to best represent them.

OCT

2008

Nelya, this is great post. I think these data should go public. I really do.

Nelya, I also think this is a great post!

I personally have no problems with my stats being public. Before I was a Realtor, I never really trusted the Realtors that said they were "top producers, million dollar agents, etc"

I certainly do not want my clients not trusting me to do a good job for them because they may think I am not good enough.

I am what I am and a client is either going to trust me to do the best job possible for them, or get another agent that they have confidence in.

Like you, I have sold every house I have listed. To me that is the measure, not how many listings I may have had and I think my clients would appreciate that.

I guess I'm torn on this too. Nothing to hide as far as my stats go, but income is a personal thing.

I don't know how much money my dentist makes but I had to go to him based on reputation and referral. His income really would not have told me how good a dentist his.

I don't know how much money my mechanic makes. I had to go to him based on referral (and faith the first time).

I don't know how much money my child's daycare teacher makes, but I had to go to them based on referral.

Is there a pattern here?

Ron I was not talking about your income. I am taking about your numbers for exampe in the past six months you had 50 listing and only 2 sold. The rest were canselled, expired, and failed to sell, I think consummer needs to see this.

I know several excellent buyer's agents who work for teams who don't have any stats on the MLS because all of the "credit" goes to the team leader. It makes me crazy to see people being applauded for being "top producers" but in reality they are the team lead of 16 agents. If you take their $20 mil volume and divide it up by 16 agents, they all did about $1.25 mil each, which isn't as impressive, now is it?

The problem with stats is that they can be very misleading.

Nelya personally I think the stats would sort of clean up our industry. Some agents go in and tell "tales" that are not true to get a listing, which hurts our industry in the long run. But this data should come from our boards and be per agent.

OCT

2008

Absolutely yes. We are a free enterprise county built on capitalism and if Realtors can not handle capitalism, get out of the business. Let the markets prevail. People still need lawyers, yet they can get any case history they want. People will always need a professional to give them expert advise. This would be a great means to weed out the weak in this business........

OCT

2008

Some interesting points here- I have sent out postcards using my stats- it neither helped nor hindered by business. In amny areas I still hold the record for highests "sold" but here as in many small towns, it is oftenmore a question of Who you know, rather than What you know.

Meanwhile...I just keep doing what I do well and keep my clients happy.

Nelya~ I think a consumer should know or have access to whatever it is he needs to know (or what is important to the consumer) to make a decision on hiring the "Right" Realtor! Our track record IS important important to them!

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