Real

I am not a big fan of real estate agents. I think most of them would sell their own mother for 6 percent commission. I have only been involved in a few real estate transactions in my life and at every one of them; there was always the appearance of some shenanigans going on.

I understand, that 10 or so years ago, a realtor had to do a lot to sell a house. They had to list the house in the newspaper, get the phone calls to other realtors and create flyers and what have you. They also had to meet the other agents to exchange keys as well as open the house for the potential buyers. They had to work for their commission. They had to sell.

But now with modern technology, they have a lot (and I mean a lot) less to do. They list a house on the internet and put an electronic lock box on the door and they can just sit back and wait. The buyer's agent is the one that really ends up showing the house and selling the house.

Selling a house, and especially if you watch all the house selling shows on cable, is basically the art of deception. The listing agent will tell you, to empty your closets so they "look" bigger. The closets are not really bigger. The agents will tell you remove unused furniture to make the rooms "look" bigger. Again they are not bigger they just look bigger. Some agents tell you to remove all personal pictures from the walls, so the house can appeal to the potential buyer. Art of Deception.

When putting our house on the market, we interviewed three potential agents. They were all nice and sweet, but each one of them told us their little deceptive "tricks" and then asked us to trust them with the sale of our home. So they tell us how to lie and be deceptive and then want us to trust them. Strange. Of course I had to call them out on this and getting their responses was entertaining.

The other thing about real estate agents that I find totally shady, is the fact that they can represent the buyers and the sellers. They work both ends. A buying agent knows all the same deceptive tricks that the selling agent knows, so it is very easy for them to inform their clients that the closets only APPEAR bigger, but for the most part they don't tell their clients. They want the sale just as much. Selling agents will also cherry pick houses with the highest commission rates to show their clients first. Even if the house is not what the client is looking for, they hope that they can keep the lower commission rates out of the equation, by inundating the buyer with the other houses.

Buyer agents and selling agents are all in cahoots.

I know some of the people that read this blog will disagree. Some people that read, actually may be real estate agents. I am sure there are some decent ones out there. I am not trying to offend. I am sure some will leave comments defending their real estate agents. But think about it, why is the real estate business, pretty much the only business where the business cards have the picture of the agent on the card. No other business that I know of actually prints headshots on business cards. It is not really a headshot of the agent to make you feel connected to the person.

It is their mug shot from the last time they ripped someone off or from when they sold their mother.