JVM actually has 12 licensed real estate agents, and 3 licensed real estate brokers (including me and my wife, Heejin).
Not only have none of us ever represented anyone in a real estate transaction (nor will we ever), but we have all engaged full-time agents to represent us for every one of our transactions (and there have been dozens).
The only reason we have so many licensed agents is because getting a license used to be part of our very extensive training program.
There Are Several Reasons Why I Am Sharing This Though.
- Bitter social media morons love to rip on real estate agents – without having a clue about how the industry actually works.A. “71% of real estate agents didn’t sell a home last year…” I see the “bitter-ati” post this repeatedly, e.g. HERE. But, every human with the slightest exposure to the industry well knows that a huge percentage of licensed agents have ZERO intention of representing anyone.See my story above, as one example. As another, I know numerous wealthy professionals who have spouses with real estate licenses solely for the tax advantages the licenses provide.
B. “Real estate agents are a scam…” These posts are even more prevalent and pathetic, as the posters think agents just fill out a contract after buyers find a home, and then get 3%. I am preaching to the choir now, as 95% of my readers are agents. But my point is that everyone with knowledge of the industry knows those posts are nonsense.
As proof, please note that every one of our licensed agents hires other agents to represent them – every time – because none of us have the knowledge, time, contacts, or skill to represent ourselves (and we’re all well-aware of how much agents actually do).
- Gell-Mann Amnesia – the main reason I am sharing this info again! This too is something I have blogged about several times and am hitting it again because the above points are such great reminders to pay heed to this concept. Below is verbatim from my last blog about this concept.
The Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect is a psychological phenomenon that highlights people’s tendency to recognize the unreliability of media when it comes to topics they’re familiar with, while still trusting the media for information on other topics.
Given the ridiculous inaccuracies we all see every day in the media when it comes to mortgages and real estate, this is a reminder that everything else we read outside of our areas of expertise is likely equally inaccurate.
The old saying is to not believe everything you read. It should, however, more accurately be, don’t believe anything you read. 😊
And lastly, and more importantly, this is a reminder that we all need to make sure our clients are getting the correct information, as the misleading info badly confuses them, keeps them out of the market unnecessarily, and often reflects very poorly on us.
