I think this very much depends on the agent. My wife is an agent and busts her ass. When she's a seller agent, if it's small jobs like painting a room, covering up spots, changing a massively outdated light fixture, she does it her self. She's spent days a time landscaping.
Also when it comes to pricing, it helps to know the market. She will list a house for 8% under market value because she knows it will draw interest and end in a bidding war with escalation clauses.
She also knows other agents and other lenders and that's very important when you have a timeline. One offer may look good but you know the agent and know they will give you an artifically high offer and then ask for 10's of thousands in remedies. Or if you're trying to get a deal done on a timeline so you can get another house and a buyer comes in with a lender that's just notoriously bad at doing things on time. You may take an offer for a few thousand less when you know a deal will end on time.
Like most things, you get what you pay for and there's plenty of people out there willing to take your money and do nothing. There are good realtors and bad ones.
> One offer may look good but you know the agent and know they will give you an artifically high offer and then ask for 10's of thousands in remedies.
True, but it also greats a negative incentive. The realtor is obligated to present to high offer to the seller, but not obligated to tell them “this agent usually tries to bump the price down $30k during inspection”. A less than ethical agent can use this to their advantage to get the seller to accept the offer, then convince the seller to accept the lower offer later after they’ve stopped showing the house.
Good realtors like your wife can definitely add value, but there’s no good way to know which realtors are good and which are terrible other than (maybe) references.
Even with the familial bias, if you say she busts her ass then I believe you. I do try to pay for results rather than effort, even though I appreciate effort. Is it twice as valuable for her to cover up a spot in a 1M home than it is a 500k home, and three times as valuable in a 1.5M home?
Everyone thinks they bust their ass. Maybe your wife does, maybe she’s just like everyone else. Fact of the matter is the average real estate agent provides little to no value. Thats why anyone with a pulse can become licensed to be one.
Also when it comes to pricing, it helps to know the market. She will list a house for 8% under market value because she knows it will draw interest and end in a bidding war with escalation clauses.
She also knows other agents and other lenders and that's very important when you have a timeline. One offer may look good but you know the agent and know they will give you an artifically high offer and then ask for 10's of thousands in remedies. Or if you're trying to get a deal done on a timeline so you can get another house and a buyer comes in with a lender that's just notoriously bad at doing things on time. You may take an offer for a few thousand less when you know a deal will end on time.
Like most things, you get what you pay for and there's plenty of people out there willing to take your money and do nothing. There are good realtors and bad ones.