Can a discreet person be a sales agent?

What is the difference between a real estate agent sales person and a real estate broker associate?

• Answer:

  The Real Estate Broker is basically the owner of the real estate firm, especially in the case of small firms. If you were to get your brokerage liscense you could open your own real estate company and you would have real estate agents or "sales people" that would work for you selling the houses. The way the residential real estate busines works in general is this. When a house is sold using the professionals in the business (Not sold by owner) a % (usually 6%) of the selling price gets split between 4 parties. (Remember this is in general and there are all kinds of exceptions and deals that are made to change the breakdown i am giving you. 6% of the sale price split up between 4 parties; 1- Usually 1 -1.75 % goes to the Agent who listed the house for the seller. 2- Usually 1.25-2% goes to the Broker who owns the company that the listing agent works for 3- Usually 1 -1.75 % goes to the Agent who found the house for the buyer. 4- Usually 1.25-2% goes to the Broker who owns the company that the buyers agent works for. Like I mentioned before, the above parties can negotiate the way those %'s get doled out and they can agree to take less than the original 6%. So, If you think about it, the brokers are the ones who make the most money on every deal and the more agents that work for them the better it is for them. Which is why it is very easy to get a job working for any broker once you have your agents license. As far as a Brokerage associate goes, I believe they are brokers who own local frachises of the larger Real estate companies like Century 21 and Remax. So when you hear a house is being "Sold by Owner" that owner is trying to save the money that would normally go the the 4 parties mentioned above. Which can add up very quickly when the selling price is high. i.e. 6% of a $250,000 house is $15,000 that the owner could pocket ! Although there is alot that goes on that is handled by the agents that is worth thinking about.