Good morning. Ever wonder why the agent you hired to sell your house isn't there to show it to interested buyers? Instead, they hand out lockbox codes to buyer agents who barely know your property.
You literally hired someone to sell your house, and they're not even present when buyers tour it. In what world does that make sense?
Here's what's really happening:
Traditional brokerages train agents to "list it and let others sell it." Get your property on the MLS, stick up a sign, then sit back while other agents do the actual selling. This connects directly to last week's issue about inflated commission negotiations. When your listing agent builds in 2.5-3% for a buyer agent upfront, they've essentially pre-paid someone else to do half their job.
But here's where it gets worse. When buyers find your house on Zillow or similar sites, they're immediately steered away from contacting your listing agent. Instead, their information gets sold as leads to random agents who then negotiate that you pay them 2.5-3% to bring the same buyer who was already interested in your property.
Think about that logic: A buyer finds your house online, gets redirected to an unrelated agent, and now there are more hands in the pot demanding their cut for walking them through the property your listing agent should be presenting. Double the agents, double the fees - and guess who pays? You and the buyer do.
This is all part of the outdated traditional system that deliberately overcomplicates what should be a straightforward process. By creating artificial complexity and multiple unnecessary touchpoints, the industry justifies inflated commissions that benefit brokerages while systematically burdening consumers.