The District Chronicles

The depth of this woman's ignorance is matched by her occupational bias, here ignorance of fundamental economics, and apparent desire to cater to conventional wisdom, ie., prevailing assumptions that real estate "professionals" add knowledge that helps make a transaction viable and appropriate. Realtors are essentially a licensed monopoly. They often have considerable locational knowledge that can be helpful. So what? Want to know how ineffective they are? Ask them what percentage of overall MLS listings expire without a sale. It's high even in a hot market. There is perhaps one Realtor in several hundred that understands land economics, real estate finance and alternative deal structuring outside the conventional model. If Realtor's spent as much on getting a genuine entrepreneurial education as they do on learning sales techniques, and on their cars and their clothes, they'd be a great deal more successful. If you take this woman's advice, you will be passing up enormous opportunities.