That's $300/hr. Similar to what lawyers ask.

Although, I suspect that a lot more education is required to become a lawyer than a real estate agent.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked her and she did a great job, but I'm not sure she did $9K great...

Probably 10-20 hours of work in total.

Do agents carry the same (legal) responsibility as lawyers / doctors though?

My experience: the one time she actually had to facilitate a showing of the house, the alarm system got set off. And when the buyers asked to change the closing date (after plane tickets were bought), she agreed and told us we had no choice. The attorney set them all straight.

A realtor's primary skill seems to be getting you to sign the listing contract.

First, I agree that the fees charged are exorbitant. However, for many smaller realtors, they may not have much inventory at any given time. So, just like a freelance programmer, the buyer is paying for their work and for their downtime between jobs.

A lot depends on the realtor.

One realtor I know not only does everything you mention, but also gives their clients lots of advice (based on many decades of experience in the industry) -- for instance, telling them if the prices they're setting on their home or bidding for are likely too high or too low, or what to do with a house in order to make it more likely to be sold. How much is such advice worth -- advice that could get them the house they're dreaming of or sell the house they desperately need to sell?

They also explain everything related to real-estate in great detail, tell them about the neighborhoods they're considering, drive them around all over the place (paying for their own gas, car, maintenance and insurance), sit in with them during the closing to go over the entire contract with them and explain everything and make sure they're not getting screwed. For sellers, the agent provides free advertising, spends a ton of time sitting at open houses waiting for people to show up and then showing them around, and trying to sell them the home, etc, etc. They negotiate deals and are the buyer's or seller's representative to the other party.

All this work is done for free unless the house is sold.

Again and again, I've heard how clients take months and months of this work done for free and then switch to go to another agent, paying the agent not a single dime for all the time they spent working for them. Or they'll just change their mind and no longer want to buy or sell.

I've heard so many horror stories from them: clients are often incredibly inconsiderate, calling at all hours of the night and on weekends (this is not a 9-5 job), expecting them to work when sick, or just being super abrasive assholes or liars. Personally, I would never put up with any of that, but agents have to make ends meet, so are often forced to work with those kinds of people or starve.

Watch the movie Glengarry Glen Ross sometime. The life of a typical real estate agent really is that bad, or worse.

Real estate agents also risk their own lives doing their jobs: they routinely go alone in to empty houses with complete strangers. It's not common, but real estate agents have been assaulted, raped, or killed while showing homes. How many people think of that: that being a real estate agent is actually a dangerous profession? I didn't until I got to know an agent well and they started telling me the horror stories of what they have to go through and put up with.

You do realize that all the salesman in that movie were scammers right?

One scene that stuck in my memory -- SPOILER ALERT -- was when one of the agents, who desperately needed to sell because he hadn't been able to sell in a long time and his job depended on it, finally thought he sold a home to a couple he had spent all this time and effort on, only to find out they have no money and just like talking to agents.

That actually happens. People will just waste a ton of real estate agents' time, with absolutely no intention to buy.

Real estate agents just get constantly jerked around, lied to, and cheated. That's just a fact of life for a real estate agent. I would never in a million years want to be one because of how constantly you get screwed -- and don't even get paid for your effort.

As for exclusivity contracts: agents don't just impose those on clients. The client can sell the home themselves if they want, it's called "for sale by owner". But if they want an agent to represent them, then yeah, the agent will act as their representative. Why shouldn't an agent get paid for their time when they act as the seller's representative -- even if the house doesn't sell?

It just boggles my mind how much free work agents do.

But if you've hired an agent, why wouldn't you pay for their time?

While you're window shopping, they drive you around (or at least drive to the homes with you in their own car, paying for the car, maintenance, gas and insurance), they give you their advice on the homes and neighborhoods you see, answer questions about the home, about how the sale will go or any other questions you have about real estate, giving you the benefit of their years of experience in the industry.

They take time out of their life to give you rather than being with their families, or with clients who are actually serious about buying.

I honestly don't understand how someone could take all that from others without trying to compensate them for all they've given you.

You really need to watch the movie again. Their entire operation is based on high-pressure sales. True hackers.

I personally know very well one of these latter types, and just feel really bad for them because of how much shit they have to put up with, how much work they have to do for free, and because it's a really tough business to succeed in if you're honest.

Perhaps a better system would be a base fee + (lower) commission, and commission based on concrete sales target rather than market value...

That way even if the client backs out, at least the agent hasn't completely wasted their time, effort, and money for absolutely nothing.

I don't see why a commission should be limited, however. If you're great at your job and have a track record of selling homes home for more or buying homes for less than other agents can, why shouldn't you be allowed to charge more?

Even now, some agents (if they're desperate or just starting out in the field) will negotiate away part of their commission. So a lower commission is always an option too.

I'm not sure how either of those address what I was responding too, though. If you are (as an agent) doing all the legwork in the hopes of getting paid on close, it's risky. Some form of industry standard way for agents to get paid a bit for this work I thing would improve it for everyone, but ymmv.