I agree with the other comments that point out real estate agents are, for the most part, just sales people. I've heard the arguments that real estate agents are more then just a sales person, they're a couples therapist sometimes, they're a finance/mortgage consultant other times and the list can go on. To these arguments I say meh! That is the same a painter saying they're also a cleaner because they cleaned up their paint. All of these associated roles are part of the job and don't qualify the person to claim more titles.
@Brandon Cherrington I feel a different pay strucutre would make a huge difference. Maybe some one could
simply explain to me how the work load is different on a $100,000 purchase compared to a $1,000,000. I've purchased a couple of different properties at different prices and all the paper work seemed to be the same... Yep, they were the same forms from OREA.
@Gord Smart, I completely agree, the information is out there and it is just a matter of finding it and reviewing it. I recently just purchased a loft in Toronto with out using a buying agent. We dealt directly with the selling agent and we were able to get the loft for under asking price with another offer on the table that was higher then ours. We were able to do this because of the commission we saved by not having a buying agent to split with, this meant more money in the sellers pocket, in the listing agents pocket and more money in MY pocket.