Myth #2 Your Real Estate Broker wants to get the highest home price
I'd rather take a beating than respond to this Real Estate Myth, but a promise is a promise and I am sorry to report that Myth # 2 is the real deal. It's just a myth. Many Real Estate Brokers/Agents just want to get the deal done. As a professional I am embarrassed and as a Broker I am sorry to say I am not sure why things are like that.
I dont think Ms. Marino is correct in blaming the way fees are split, and I don't think most Agents even understand that we have a problem. We do, and I think it has to do more with changes within the Industry than with the lack of integrity within the business.
The Internet has given us the sometimes false impression that we have greater reach and an expanded knowledge about clients and neighborhoods. The Internet has reduced the concept of "farming an area" from a personal, connected , one on one type of activity, to a very impersonal statistically driven reliance on someone elses numbers.
Many Brokers, because of their website expand the areas in which they claim expertise and will list a home in any area, relying on data from the MLS to provide sufficient knowledge to render an acceptable level of service. However It is not uncommon, that the day the listing is signed and the sign placed in the yard, is one of the few times that the Seller and the agent meet face to face. It is not uncommon for an agent to leave a quantity of brochures with the owner and to ask the client to re-fill as needed. You can imagine who replaces windblown signs.
The lesson we all should have learned from the Music Man is, your agent should " know the territory ". Your Agent needs to know the neighborhood; what homes are selling, for how much, the history of other listed properties, anectdotal information about what agents are active, where buyers are coming from and how to get them to see your property.
It is very unlikely that a Salt Lake Agent can offer the same level of service in Tooele Utah, that a local Tooele Agent will. When an offer is made to an out of area Agent it may look better than it is because that agent has run out of excuses for the house not selling, for the brochure box being empty, the sign blowing down for the tenth time. The long distance Agent is tired of the expense of the long distance calls, and the increase in the gasoline bill. Any offer looks good in that scenario.
It is true that those Agents shouldn't take that kind of listing. But they do. It is true that sellers shouldn't hire them. But they do. It is true that Myth # 2 shouldn't be a Myth, but in more cases than I care to admit, it is.
When you list, list with a Broker/Agent that knows the area, the neighborhood, the market, your home, and a "good offer" when they see it.