Are Real Estate Agents Smarter Than You?

Many property sellers, buyers, and lenders assume that working with real estate agents is a must because they know more than you. After all, they are licensed and trained. But is it really the case or simply a myth? Steven Jack Butala and Jill K DeWit discuss why real estate agents do not necessarily know more than you do and why it is possible to successfully close deals even without their help. Listen to the podcast here Are Real Estate Agents Smarter Than You? I'm Steven Jack Butala.I'm Jill DeWit finishing my tea, and this is The Land Academy Show.This is episode number 2078 and today's topic, this is the 5th real estate myth of the week, real estate agents are smarter than you. I do not think so. This is a fun topic for Jill and me. If you follow us at all, you know that we are not the kindest on the air at least to real estate agents. We'll talk a little bit about that. Why? First of all, because it's fun. Second of all, because it's true.It's funny. I was going to pause and I made a note and I'm going to interject it here. I've worked with so many agents over the years and the good ones do listen to me. The good ones, we have conversations. I'll tell them, “I may have done this many deals but I don't know your area as well as you know your area. I'm just moving into this area. What's been moving?” That kind of a thing. They go, “Thank you. Here's what we found over this part of the county this or that part of the county that,” but then the conversation goes to, “Jill, I always want to know if my listings can be better. I always want to know what you found to move your properties all over the country.”The good agents though, I want to make sure everybody is clear that there are some and I have some dear friends that are agents. It's a conversation and they want to learn and they want to improve. It's a test. I don't mean to be braggy, but we have done more deals than they have. I can't find any agent who's done more transactions than Jack.Discord QuestionThe sole purpose for the vast majority of real estate agents is to get in the way of your real estate deal and get paid for doing nothing. Each day on the show, we answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum and take a deep dive into land-related topics by popular request.The sole purpose for the majority of real estate agents is to get in the way of your deal and get paid for doing nothing.Share on XFrank said, “Hello, Land Academy. Until I joined this group, I thought you had to be licensed to do real estate deals. I now know that's not true. Why do real estate agents need to be licensed and should I get my license to be better at buying and selling land?” Can I pause right there and then jump in here? I'm going to answer the question briefly and then I want to go into the topic because it'll incorporate these. Should I get my license to be better at buying and selling land? I would not. You do not need it. You do not have to. The only thing it does is open you up to more rules, more regulations, other things you have to think about, the things you have to report. Let's go into the show and I'll explain our story and it's going to lead into what we're talking about.You do not need to get a license to be better at buying or selling land. The only thing it does is open you up to more rules and regulations.Share on XReal Estate Are Smarter Than YouToday's topic, it's the fifth myth of the week, real estate agents are smarter than you.We all know what's going on in Arizona. If you're listening to this show, you're into real estate and you have seen holy cow numbers coming out of Arizona, and then people that are moving here, how it's growing, the industries, and things like that. Check out the Phoenix area, it is on fire. It's insane. Even some of our own personal acquisitions, we're looking at each other going, “Maybe we should sell this.” It's hard to turn down that kind of dough. When we bought this three years ago,