Hi there, this is my first post, hopefully this will be a fruitful place to ask questions. I was raised a Christian and have always had a belief in God but my faith and walk with God has really been taken to a new level in the past few years, particularly this year the intensity has increased greatly and I have many questions.
Here is one that I have been struggling with lately.
I am a Realtor and at times I find myself feeling very guilty about how we are paid. At times I have thought the devil misled me to this career path, but after much prayer about the subject I have determined it is God that brought me here and that God wants me to stay here. I have come to this conclusion because while it sometimes seems the profession is filled with unethical people and can lead you down the wrong path, God knows I work for the best of my clients and want what is best for them, and that can be of great benefit to them saving them from future financial distress or other problems.
With that said, sometimes I just don't understand why when I work for a seller who owns a $250,000 home I make half as much as a seller who owns a $500,000 home and I make 3 times as much selling a $750,000 home as the $250,000 home. (Okay, so to be real we generally cut our commission a little when it goes that high and spend a little more marketing, but probably 2.5-2.75x as much) Sometimes it is even easier to sell the $750k home than the $250k home, depending on the situation. Obviously, commission is negotiable and everyone has the opportunity to interview various agents, try to fsbo, or even use one of many discount brokers. In fact, at one point I felt so guilty I said I would offer to sell homes for 4.5% to save them money, I also had the idea that it would work well on my behalf if people were pleased with my service and enjoyed the discount, it would spread like wildfire. I thought God would bless this idea, but tried as I may people did not take me up on my offer. They seemed to believe the 'you get what you pay for' or that I was trying something underhanded or deceptive but I was not, I honestly thought it would help me grow my business and save them money at the same time. When I returned to requesting 5 - 6% people once again became much more eager to hire me.
However, sometimes I return to my feelings of guilt and feel like it is just too much money for any home over the 250-400k ball park. I liken it to what if the restaurant charged you based on how much you weighed rather than the entree you ordered?
Lastly, I have considered becoming a flat fee broker such as 'help u sell' or many others but those never seem to do very well either. I guess the problem is two fold in that people distrust you or think you will provide inferior service, or else because there are so many realtors, you are not able to secure enough business at the rate. We generally believe competition drives prices down, but in real estate it is almost like the over-availability of agents chokes out anyone willing to do the job for less.
If I did not have to spend countless hours and dollars calling prospects and advertising I could easily sell 5 or 6 homes a month and live a normal life for a couple grand each, however, because of competition and how much time I need to spend seeking interviews and interviewing with people who do not hire me I feel I need to charge the going rate. I, however, am only about 4.5 years into my career and know if I stay in it eventually more business will start coming at which time, I will begin making crazy money unless I volunteer to cut my rate, however, at this point I still struggle both to make my living and with the enormous fees people pay us for the hours we work.
When I think about my 4.5% venture I think that maybe God did not bless it because while it was a discount, it was still a 'diverse scale' going based on percentage of a sales price rather than services rendered. I would be willing to try being a flat fee broker but I struggle both with what is fair to charge and also with the possibility of going bankrupt. I recently made the offer to a potential client I interviewed with that they could pay me a reduced flat fee up front not-contingent on the sale or the traditional 'percentage at closing' contingent upon sale and it seemed to make them distrust me and they did not hire me. This is the only time I have ever offered the flat fee, versus the reduced percentage.
One last thought I've had is that God might support the high rate of pay is because he understands that we must embrace the months we receive potatoes and gravy and keep in mind there are months we only receive the potatoes, or nothing, and if everyone were to go to discounting services, less people would be able to do real estate as their profession. Those people would simply be without work or income. It is a very tough business, many people wind up here because they do not qualify for any other job that makes a decent living. I personally have a BA in Poli Sci but no graduate degree. I taught for a year and decided it was not a good fit, but there are few opportunities to someone like me other than commissioned sales. I have found many agents are simply in shoes such as my own, with worthless degrees and in many cases with more mouths to feed than their own.
Please speak to me on what you think God says on this matter. Is working on a percentage basis 'diverse scales' in God's eyes or does God want me to charge the going rate so that there will be enough to go around for the many agents needing income?
Here is one that I have been struggling with lately.
I am a Realtor and at times I find myself feeling very guilty about how we are paid. At times I have thought the devil misled me to this career path, but after much prayer about the subject I have determined it is God that brought me here and that God wants me to stay here. I have come to this conclusion because while it sometimes seems the profession is filled with unethical people and can lead you down the wrong path, God knows I work for the best of my clients and want what is best for them, and that can be of great benefit to them saving them from future financial distress or other problems.
With that said, sometimes I just don't understand why when I work for a seller who owns a $250,000 home I make half as much as a seller who owns a $500,000 home and I make 3 times as much selling a $750,000 home as the $250,000 home. (Okay, so to be real we generally cut our commission a little when it goes that high and spend a little more marketing, but probably 2.5-2.75x as much) Sometimes it is even easier to sell the $750k home than the $250k home, depending on the situation. Obviously, commission is negotiable and everyone has the opportunity to interview various agents, try to fsbo, or even use one of many discount brokers. In fact, at one point I felt so guilty I said I would offer to sell homes for 4.5% to save them money, I also had the idea that it would work well on my behalf if people were pleased with my service and enjoyed the discount, it would spread like wildfire. I thought God would bless this idea, but tried as I may people did not take me up on my offer. They seemed to believe the 'you get what you pay for' or that I was trying something underhanded or deceptive but I was not, I honestly thought it would help me grow my business and save them money at the same time. When I returned to requesting 5 - 6% people once again became much more eager to hire me.
However, sometimes I return to my feelings of guilt and feel like it is just too much money for any home over the 250-400k ball park. I liken it to what if the restaurant charged you based on how much you weighed rather than the entree you ordered?
Lastly, I have considered becoming a flat fee broker such as 'help u sell' or many others but those never seem to do very well either. I guess the problem is two fold in that people distrust you or think you will provide inferior service, or else because there are so many realtors, you are not able to secure enough business at the rate. We generally believe competition drives prices down, but in real estate it is almost like the over-availability of agents chokes out anyone willing to do the job for less.
If I did not have to spend countless hours and dollars calling prospects and advertising I could easily sell 5 or 6 homes a month and live a normal life for a couple grand each, however, because of competition and how much time I need to spend seeking interviews and interviewing with people who do not hire me I feel I need to charge the going rate. I, however, am only about 4.5 years into my career and know if I stay in it eventually more business will start coming at which time, I will begin making crazy money unless I volunteer to cut my rate, however, at this point I still struggle both to make my living and with the enormous fees people pay us for the hours we work.
When I think about my 4.5% venture I think that maybe God did not bless it because while it was a discount, it was still a 'diverse scale' going based on percentage of a sales price rather than services rendered. I would be willing to try being a flat fee broker but I struggle both with what is fair to charge and also with the possibility of going bankrupt. I recently made the offer to a potential client I interviewed with that they could pay me a reduced flat fee up front not-contingent on the sale or the traditional 'percentage at closing' contingent upon sale and it seemed to make them distrust me and they did not hire me. This is the only time I have ever offered the flat fee, versus the reduced percentage.
One last thought I've had is that God might support the high rate of pay is because he understands that we must embrace the months we receive potatoes and gravy and keep in mind there are months we only receive the potatoes, or nothing, and if everyone were to go to discounting services, less people would be able to do real estate as their profession. Those people would simply be without work or income. It is a very tough business, many people wind up here because they do not qualify for any other job that makes a decent living. I personally have a BA in Poli Sci but no graduate degree. I taught for a year and decided it was not a good fit, but there are few opportunities to someone like me other than commissioned sales. I have found many agents are simply in shoes such as my own, with worthless degrees and in many cases with more mouths to feed than their own.
Please speak to me on what you think God says on this matter. Is working on a percentage basis 'diverse scales' in God's eyes or does God want me to charge the going rate so that there will be enough to go around for the many agents needing income?
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