The Life Of A Real Estate Agent

RE/MAX just released their newest marketing campaign and I think it is fantastic.  Their tagline “Doing more from FOR SALE to SOLD- That’s the sign of a RE/MAX agent.” I think sums it up perfectly.  Unlike some of the discount brokerages that are out there, we do more to help our clients get their homes sold or help a buyer to purchase a home.  There are many things that we as agents do that never get reimbursed for.

One of the questions I get asked the most as a Myrtle Beach real estate agent is what exactly do I do on a daily basis.  Many people who buy or sell a home only see the commission that I collect when there is a successful contract that gets accepted, and gets to the closing table.  For some, they feel it’s way too much money that we receive.  What many do not realize, is that until you close on the property, you do not make a paycheck normally.

This means the countless hours you spend search through the MLS searching for properties for a client, time spent driving around Myrtle Beach showing properties, does not generate a paycheck.  If you have a client that cannot get financing and you’ve spent the past 6 weeks showing them properties, writing up offers, doing home inspections, and everything else, you don’t collect a paycheck.

If the person decides after working with you for countless hours not to purchase a property and use you, you don’t get paid for those services.  If they have not signed up with you a buyers agency agreement, you can spend months working with someone to have them go buy with someone else and you never receive any reimbursement.

We spend time working hand in hand with the lender to make sure that our buyers have their financing completed properly and on time for closing day.  This is just one small item that we can end up spending countless hours on that is never even known by our buyers.  Coordinating a closing between the bank and the attorney can sometimes be quite the balancing act to make sure all parties are prepared on closing day.

Of course, then there is the home inspection part.  This is where things can sometimes become very tricky.  While parts of the contract cover certain items pretty clearly, there are always areas of grey here that can really make a deal go awry quickly.  While the contract doesn’t cover things like broken tiles, windows that don’t stay open, they are sometimes the cosmetic types of things that can make a deal fall apart when the buyers want them fixed and a seller refuses.  If we can’t play the role of peacemaker, the deal can fall apart and with that so does our paycheck.

So in conclusion, while we might get a decent paycheck from time to time at closing, most people forget about all the work we have done over the past few months before getting to the closing table.  As a RE/MAX agent, I’m proud to say I’m part of a team that goes above & beyond average to make sure our clients get the best service possible.