Too Many FISBOs?

Greetings, as a customer, not an agent, I stumbled upon this discussion, and I can tell you one thing that really drives people to FSBO: the perceived lack of effort on the part of your average realtor for what seems like a very large commission.  I personally have bought and sold a home in the last 18 months and am in the process of selling again, and I just can't understand why the agents can't make corrections to the MLx listings in a timely manner, or add photographs, or even take decent photographs (for $12,000, why can't you invest a couple of hundred dollars on a professional photographer?  "Do it yourself" is okay for what you do to save money but not for when your clients do it?); why showing agents don't have the courtesy to leave their card after they do a showing (not a few, but 99% don't do this any more);  why agents don't keep lists of handymen as resources homeowners can use to help whip the property into shape.  FSBO is increasing because people aren't seeing the effort for the money.

If agents were willing to make some changes to give back some of the value then people might list again: such as charging a lower commission for more expensive houses (If you're not doing more work to sell it, and my experience tells me you're probably not, then why should you get such a large portion of my equity?); or reducing commission to help enable sales when the client gets offers below their breakeven point (and therefore can't close the deal).  If you guys think you work hard for such a large chunk of our equity, you haven't convinced many people outside your profession...

I agree with Rich. I list foreclosures, as well as trying to build business for the future. Obviously, with foreclosures I get much more traffic and therefore experience a larger sampling of agents. There are still too many bad agents out there. There are some good ones as well. The good agents do provide a valuable service, but the bad ones give good reason for the negative atitude that the public has for the industry. Like my broker always says, the bad agents make it easier for the good ones to shine. I recently landed a sell/buy client, because he saw one of my signs and I answered the phone. He said that he had called 4 agents in the last few weeks. Only one returned his call. The other couldn't give him a definitive time to meet at his property. I got his property sold, even though it took a specific type of buyer as the property had some issues. The buyers wanted to buy it sight unseen just from the 20 plus photos that I had in the listing. Naturally, their agent was awfull and was difficult to reach. I had to do all of the work, but my clients were happy. We are now under contract on their purchase. I hear bad agent stories all of the time. I actually like what I do, and would like to stay in the business. Maybe that's why I treat it with respect. OK, back to work.