Oh, I see. Well, I think our differences of opinion have something to do with the different perspectives of a broker vs. an agent. The cost of business is NOT going down, nor is the risk, nor is the required insurance premium, nor is the rent on brokerage offices, nor is the equipment and technology, nor is the IT staff that runs the website, if it's a sophisticated website like my former firm has.
The broker sets the commission fee he needs to keep the game going--not the agents. In turn, the broker passes along his growing costs to agents in the form of fees and minutia all the time.
I don't want to think what our broker spent to put those high-speed full-color Xerox machines in his 100+ offices, but I'm sure it was a blow to the budget.
I don't want to think how much I spent marketing homes, either. When I added it up at tax time, it was a whopping amount. Three years later, I'd be spending even more on marketing, because even more tools and advertising venues are available now (for a fee) that I'd expect to have to use routinely just to keep up with everyone else. |
