Originally Posted by
TGS
This is probably area-dependent, but I sure as shit wouldn't want the hours of my realtor here in the DC metro area. He has zero days off, and anytime he's awake he is basically "on the job". I would definitely not characterize his job as easy, lazy, lacking work, etc.
I think you might have an incorrect view on what they make, as well. The respective agent doesn't keep his 3%...a large portion of that goes to the agency that the agent works under. Let's say your house sold and the 6% fee was $40k, each agent getting $20k. They're not keeping $20k for themselves. They're also not selling a lot of houses to make a good living without the hussle & bustle that I mentioned. If they're in a competitive market, there's a chance they might directly employ an assistant out of their own salary as well in order to stay competitive.
As for browsing the listings on Redfin, Zillow, etc, they're not as up to date as MLS. The gatekeeping is still very real in that respect, and browsing public-facing sites might work in slow markets. In a competitive fast paced environment, unofficial soft offers are often tendered before the house even opens, with hard offers being dropped by 11am the day of opening, and the house being contingent by noon. The websites that you and I have access to are slow to update and in high drive markets will be listing houses that are basically already sold. So, ignoring the real estate agents and trying to do this yourself isnt a great strategy depending on where you live.
I saw this first hand with a retired cop that came from your area. We hired him as a contractor to work as a digital forensic analyst. He came to the DC area and went over a year without being able to find a home by using your strategy...I'm not sure what ever happened as my work with him on a case came to a close at that point.
Lastly, we need to distinguish between gate keeping and networking. Yeah, sure, there's gate keeping...that's true of any profession, really. However, I also bought into my realtors' professional network which has been worth every penny. I have instant access to a repository of reliable business contacts who aren't going to rip us off, unlike people who have to rely on Google searches or the yellow pages.
More directly to the whole real estate agenting aspect, my realtor also has the professional network of being able to find clients a place before it's even listed. Part of their job is liaising throughout the day with their real estate agent buddies and finding properties through their knowledge of their clients and neighborhoods. Both of these are intangibles that you can't buy into with a friend of a friend or distant family member who sells a few houses a year as a very-part time gig just for friends and families.
We use the phrase, "policing is regional" in a lot of our LE conversations here on the forum. I'll danger that same maxim applies to real estate. So, while your disdain might apply to you, with the "total dick head" you chose to represent you, in your situation, in your area...I'd be hesitant to apply your generalizations to the profession.