Do real estate agents deserve more credit? You see a lot of polls asking buyers and sellers about all sorts of real estate related topics but a great poll would be perhaps a poll asking the buyer or seller if they think they could sell their home or buy a home without the aid of a Realtor. The results would be quite interesting.

The answer to that question of course will vary from person to person and the answers would depend on whether or not a buyer or seller had ever tried to sell their home on their own, had tried to buy a home on their own, and if they had worked with a real estate agent in the past, a good determining factor of what answer they give would depend on what level of service the real estate agent gave to that particular client.

What determines a bad job? A seller might say their Realtor did a bad job because their house didn’t sell. The statement may be true but some key reasons as to why the house didn’t sell come in to play. Did the house not sell because the agent did not market the home properly? Or did the house not sell because after several attempts on the real estate agent’s part to get the price reduced on the home, met with nothing but the unwillingness to budge from the price, l could be another reason why the house didn’t sell. But is that the fault of the seller being unreasonable or that fault of the real estate agent not being aggressive enough or informing the seller the reason FOR the price reductions. One might argue it is both sides fault.

It appears that there is a stigma surrounding the role of a real estate agent. They are sometimes referred to as money hungry grubbing parasites, they are not out for the client’s best interest, or they don’t have anything to do with the sale of the home once it is in contract.

The role of a real estate agent is far more complex than one might think. If an agent is hired as a listing agent when someone is selling a home, the agent’s first priority is to market the property, bring prospects to the home and get a qualified buyer to place an offer on the home. That is their first duty.

Their second duty is to help facilitate an agreement between buyer through the buyer’s agent and the seller. Once all negotiations are complete (in some states that is considered the attorney review period whereas in other states the contract is fully executed before it goes through an attorney review period).

Their third duty and ongoing duty until the closing table is to make sure each party has been taking care of their part. In other words, the attorneys are communicating, the mortgage company is not lagging behind in obtaining a commitment or appraisal on the property, all deposit monies have been received and placed in escrow, and so on.

Many agents will argue which type of real estate agent has more work cut out for them, a listing agent or a buyers agent. That is a great question, for the buyer agent has a lot of up front foot work with their buyer before a home is even chosen or a contract on the table, whereas without the hard work of a listing agent obtaining the house listing for the buyer’s agent to sell what would the buyer’s agent have to show?

Each side has good points. There is no right and wrong answer to that, both types of agents are important for a successful real estate transaction.

So the question still stands. Do real estate agents deserve more credit? Since generalizing is never fair in any industry, in conclusion, the answer is not defined, rather than a good conversation that could lead to debate.