We know this is a topic near and dear to all of you, so we decided to share as much as possible of what we talked about here on the Exchange. Unfortuately, despite repeated attempts, we were unable to record the session. However we tried to make copious notes and hope you're all able to find a useful nugget or two. Enjoy!
Knowing and charging for your value is at the heart of consulting. And even IF you never actually use "by the hour" charging, once you go through the exercise of actually determining your "hourly" rate, you will never, ever look at how you spend your time in the same way. And an additional byproduct of that exercise is that it better prepares you for having honest discussions with consumers about the whole compensation topic! We're being challenged more and more by, not just the internet, but by all sorts of "alternative" business models playing the "who can charge the least" or "How low can you go" game. And when it comes to commission "limbo", no one wins....not the consumer and certainly not the agent. Whether you're talking about seller services or buyer services, like working with buyers without so much as a signed buyer agreement, when we "give away" our time, all we are doing is reducing our value...both in the eyes of the consumer, as well as ourselves.
When asked about what percentage of agents could likely become "real" real estate consultants, Mollie's response is "likely less than 1%....in order to charge for expertise, the agent must have some!"