A friend of mine is a realtor on Vancouver island and she is literally making millions - mind you she is a real dynamo. I get tired just talking to her.

No one elses work compensation has risen so sharply over the past 20 years. Thats an increase of about 1700%. Given the price of the average house today - over $100,000.00 in most centers. And yes I know housing in SK and some other places is often lower, but thats a choice of residence for the Realtor as well.

Now if I was making $2000.00 monthly 20 years ago I would now be making $33,000.00 a month or thereabout in I had that kind of increase --

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No one elses work compensation has risen so sharply over the past 20 years. Thats an increase of about 1700%. Given the price of the average house today - over $100,000.00 in most centers. And yes I know housing in SK and some other places is often lower, but thats a choice of residence for the Realtor as well.

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I betcha only stockbrokers have probably made out better than real estate brokers.

Man, if I'd known this sweetheart deal existed I'd have sat the real estate exams the day I finished high school and powered my ass down to Vancouver and sold real estate, and then booked out in 1997 when the Hong Kong influx dried up.

Speaking of price-fixing among "professionals", one thing that I wanna say that just gravels my ass is that dentists do this too.

Their "professional associations" get together and outline the fee schedule that all dentists are "supposed" to charge, and they're not permitted to advertise either, AFAIK.

Now while I dislike the American crassness apparent among members of the medical profession who love to take out billboards advertising medical procedures for a "cut-rate special", one thing I'd love to see is the government busting the price-fixing apparatus that dentists have which results in a simple dental cleaning being $100. That's freakin' highway robbery, in my book.

I don't give a damn about dentists whining about the overhead. They can continue to charge $100 a cleaning if they want to service the rich guys who think nothing of paying cash for dental treatment and if they wanna have their offices downtown.

I want to be able to see a dentist compete on the basis of price and be able to charge me $50 for a cleaning out in Coquitlam where it costs way less to rent an office.

Of course, the real solution would be to get the government into the dental insurance business and ending the ridiculous spectacle of people being charged 5 thousand bucks for a root canal or whatever the hell it is it costs to get one.

Once had a dentist who said, "The only reason I am doing this is for the money!" As far as I am concerned, this aspect of health care is a huge ripoff. Imagine having to pay nearly $200 to have a tooth filled. Let's get real!

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Sort of a sidebar: how can a kid with the IQ of a sack of hammers get $18 an hour pushing a broom in a mill?

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They are making it harder to become a realtor these days, as an FYI - they are now saying here in BC that you should have a degree in Business, legal experience, management experience, etc etc. Cant remember all the blocks they are now putting up. I sent for the info once. I guess they dont want to share the windfall.

Dentists, someone brought that up and I totally agree these are out of control as well. I asked about a 2 caps and was told it would cost over $4000.00. When I protested the dentist said "I have to pay for my summer home somehow." I guess he thought he was being "witty". I just said "Well I'm not going to be paying for it" and left it.

[ 16 March 2003: Message edited by: verbatim ]

I liken a working class dude like myself buying a house to a lion making a kill on the savannah. The battle isn't just bringing down the meal; that's only half of it.

The other half is fighting off the hyennas, jackals and vultures.

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Isn't it amusing that many of you feel that 'others' should work for nothing while of course 'you' are vastly underpaid.

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I never claimed to be underpaid.

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Well, just for starters, if you're selling, they can separate serious buyers from time-wasters. A good realtor is also familiar with real estate law, and can help a buyer or seller avoid pitfalls.

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And that's worth 6%?

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And that's worth 6%?

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Imagine having to pay nearly $200 to have a tooth filled. Let's get real!

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[ 21 March 2003: Message edited by: mighty brutus ]

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It's one thing to sell something for someone else and charge a fee for your time. It's another to blatantly rip them off by charging a percentage of the final fee, which means you benefit from an inflationary environment and there's no incentive for you to reasonably negotiate with the buyer on the seller's behalf because you're thinking about how many ways from Sunday you can screw the buyer in order to boost our commission.

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IS this real value for your money? It sure as hell isnt - my sister sold her house, taking her realtors word for what it should be listed for, the realtor got the papers signed, put the sign on the lawn, sold it within four hours, she had someone in mind already - and pocketed her 6% of $130,000.00 and was home in time for dinner. Not bad at all, $7800.00 for an afternoons work.

Its price gouging (sp?). My realtor has listed my house, put a sign on the lawn and not shown the house once since then - other realtors have shown it. He has not carried through with anything I have asked him to do - such as my request that he change the wording of his ad -- the fact that it is just one block to the beach has been left out of the ad -- yet he expects to receive his commission. His latest email to me said he was busy selling houses that were priced higher - which means he earns a bigger commission on them, although just on mine he is looking at close to $8000.00 and IMO that sucks. its a rip off, plain and simple - what am I getting for my money? Because we arent living in that town we are unable to list it and show it ourselves or that is what I would be doing ..

Realtors have no stock to carry, no product that a person can return to them if they arent happy with it, no real investment in their product other than a hundred dollars for ads - and their time if they actually show the house -

For example: my first house cost me $70,000. The realtor made $4,200.00.

Four years later, when I sold it, the realtor made $11,600.00. It sold in two days.

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But as I'm not paid for doing nothing

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The commission is a factor in the rising price of houses, people who have to sell after 1-2 years must price their houses to include the realtor's commission.

And why is he so reasonable? He lives in the house his office is in, and his wife is his legal secretary. He enjoys a lot of economies through this and passes some of that on to his clients.

If he was charging what he does, and working out of a downtown office with a staff, I'd be rather suspicious.

The real utility of having a realtor is having access to the MLS-- which seems to me a rather artificial monopoly on information that aught to be part of the public domain.

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One surprise I did get when I had to buy my ex out of her share of the house, was the appraisal I had to get done.

My first thought was, "oh, here's another jackal coming along to pick my bones", but in fact I feel I got excellent value for the fee he charged. In the end, I ended up with a guide I can use to target my spending on things in the house that will increase it's value.

I don't believe professional people are all out to get me or "screw me". I just have a sense for what I believe is "value". As in anything, there are professionals that provide value and there are those that don't. And, the final arbitrator on that score is always the customer.

[ 22 March 2003: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]