a real estate broker, real estate agent
and a real estate salesperson
What is a Realtor? If you are for sale by owner, they will come!
They will phone, ring your bell, attend your open houses, drop flyers in your mail box and badger you to list your house.
They have a mission. The mission is to list your house.
You have a mission. Your mission is to "sell my house for sale by owner."
Clarification
If you will bear with me for a moment, I'd like to explain something about "real estate agents". Over and over you will see the word "realtor" used, especially on websites.
The main purpose of this page on what is a Realtor, is to explain some of the differences of a Realtor vs. what is a real estate broker, an agent and a salesperson, plus why you should not be nasty to them when you are for sale by owner.
Types of Realtors that may Arrive at Your Door |
Real Estate Fees and Commissions |
MLS Flat Fee while For Sale by Owner |
Finding a Realtor to Represent YOU |
Go Full MLS while still For Sale by Owner |
Understanding Real Estate Agency |
Return to Home Page |
In United States and Canada the above words actually refer to different groups of people. Let me explain.
As members, they have made a commitment to follow a set of rules and regulations, both professional and ethical. Are the rules followed by most Realtors? More on that later.
On this website, I will be using the spelling as Realtor and MLS (Multiple Listing Service). It is my opinion that NAR and CREA have lost the protection of their trademark on the Internet, due to not protecting that trademark. I will respect the capitol R in Realtor and use MLS in capitol letters as well.
All Realtors are real estate sales people but, not all real estate agents or salespeople, are Realtors.
- side note: Some lawyers are also licensed as a real estate broker.
All other salespeople that worked under that broker license were actually referred to as, salespeople.
Now that I have totally bored most of you, about what is a Realtor :-) let's move on to more important matters shall we?
One more thing about what is a Realtor OK? I've noticed in many other countries around the world, that they also use the word Realtor, often spelled "realtor", to describe a licensed real estate sales person.
I have no idea if these countries have their own associations like NAR or CREA, so I will not attempt to step into that area.
Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot!
We will be covering many more lessons after this page on what is a Realtor and how you can use them to your advantage, but lets start here with a common error that for sale by owners sometimes make. Here it is folks.
Hey, if I can do it, you can do it. Don't know what I'm talking about? Go to My Story
Being nasty to real estate salespeople accomplishes nothing and may hurt you later.
You are Still in Control
Just because you are nice to the salespeople that come calling, doesn't mean you have to co-operate with them.
Here are a couple ideas of what you might say.
You could change those up in your own way for your own situation, but you get the idea, be nice......and smile.
For More Information about Using Realtors
Please select one of the thumbnail photo links further up this page.
Disclaimer Privacy Policy Contact Me
If you have a question, a comment, or a suggestion, I can be reached at:
Sell My House FSBOThis website is written and maintained
by Douglas Cameron
An Unsolicited Testimony
Your web page has been a lot of help in giving me the confidence to try to market the house myself.