Freakonomics Asks: Does your real estate agent have your best interest in mind?

In this clip from Freakonomics, authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner discuss how incentives influence behavior and ask the question: Does your real estate agent really have your best interest in mind? The movie hits theaters on October 1, 2010, and is currently available for rental on iTunes (http://www.itunes.com/freakonomics) or On Demand (http://www.magsneaks.com/previews.php) through most cable providers before its theatrical release.

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[tx2vt]

I'm surprised that dude even does any public speaking at all given his speech disorder...

[closingnorthamerica]

Yes please wait a week or a month or even a year. If a market is hot then you quickly become market stale and buyers wonder why you have not sold. In a slow market well you take what you can get.

[jvolstad]

Of course Realtors are bad.

[QrayzHD]

ignorant pricks over generalizing once again.

[Boyenga Homes]

Freakonomics is off in many ways, but I would agree that just like in any industry there are the good, bad and the ugly and unfortunately with the lack of barriers to entry in the real estate industry the bad may outweigh the good.

Now I would love to run a study of economists to see if there services were unbiased and unskewed as well as the accuracy of there predictions, I would guess that you would find a very similar pattern of self interest. Maybe Steven could do a study on Economists!

[Scott Hammond]

i think most do

[askstevensilva]

In my bias opinion, I do agree with what is written but it is based on "If I could wait a week and get an offer for full price". If there is reason to believe that this is the case, then a fully informed Seller would never accept the first offer nor would a professional agent advise that.

My experience and that of my peers tend to be, the longer a home has not sold for the less likely that a home will sell for full price or over asking. The sale price of a home typically drops over time...

[Andrew Brest]

So why don't more people interview their agents anonymously, online, prior to meeting and signing any paperwork? It makes sense to figure these items out in advance. If you are happy with the commission structure in advance and all the parameters are pre-established, it comes down to simple decisions: are you willing to wait an extra week, or do the deal today? If you have done all the right steps in interviewing your agent, and you trust them, it should be a simple answer. Sundaybell

[smashinova]

Real estates don't have a your best interests at heart and are after the best commision? They needed a study to figure that out? What's next, the sky is blue

[AnnetteFunicello1]

Again, we NET more because we set the price based on market conditions,. Sellers tend to insist we set the price on what "they" think it is worth based on hearsay, or what they paid for it, which has absolutely no relevance to today's market. The statement that " we keep ours on the market longer" is so broad, there is no data to confirm that or dispute it. Real estate is locan Data shows the longer you are on the market, the less you net because of holding costs and perception.