Real Estate Agents and Realtors

Curious about Realtors?

We write regular articles about average real estate agent commission rates, the number of real estate agents working in the Portland metro area, the difference between different types of local real estate licenses, where to find the best real estate agent reviews, best questions to ask when interviewing local agents, and much more. Enjoy!

5 Questions to ask a Realtor in an Interview

June 26, 2020

Selling a home is one of the most important financial decisions a person makes during their lifetime, even if they make it multiple times. A good Realtor can make the experience stress free and enjoyable (or as enjoyable as possible) and financially rewarding. But how do you know if a Realtor will perform, how do you know if they are a good fit? Questions to ask a Realtor during an interview: 1. What are the exact terms of your cancellation policy? Okay, so maybe you didn’t expect this to be the first question. But honestly I think it should be. Let’s say you went through the interview process and the real estate agent told you everything you wanted to hear...

Top Real Estate Agent Review Sites: 2020 Update

December 13, 2019

For a long time, unverified online reviews were the bane of the real estate agent’s existence! Now it’s almost 2020, and we can finally celebrate the fact that actual customers are voicing their opinions online, creating a merit-based system in which the best real estate agents win.  However, the saavy real estate agent chooser should know where to look, because fake reviews are still out there (and we’ve been hit ourselves with some bogus spam reviews from people who simply don’t exist. So where’s the best place to find verified reviews of real estate agents from people who actually worked with them? We’re glad you asked! If you’re simply looking for reviews on the Stephen FitzMaurice Team, you can find...

How Many Real Estate Agents Are There? 2019 Update

September 20, 2019

Number of Real Estate Agents in the United States According to the National Association of Realtors 2019 Monthly Membership report, membership hit a historic high in August of 2019 at 1,393,186 Realtors. Now Realtors are real estate agents who are members of NAR and adhere to the NAR code of ethics and pay their membership dues. I cannot find any number on the count of real estate agents (licensed with their state) that are also not actually Realtors, but I imagine the number is less than 1%. For the 16 years I’ve been licensed I’ve never met a single one. Every Realty company I’ve run across makes NAR membership, Realtor membership a requirement for the licensed real estate agents in...

Real Estate Agent Reviews Guide – 2019 Update

June 3, 2019

Find the best sites for Realtor Reviews Frankly it is incredible how many places you can find real estate agent reviews online. But which sites should you trust? Does anyone verify that the reviews are from real clients? And it may surprise you to know that sometimes looking for Realtor reviews can cost you money! Read to the end for those important details. 1. Zillow’s Agent Finder Zillow drives real estate agents crazy sometimes because it tends to have a lot of data errors for home buyers searching their site, while other major home buying search portals, like Realtor.com, tend to be more accurate. But when it comes to real estate agent reviews – I’m grateful for Zillow and we...

Number 1 Listing Agent in Portland, Oregon – 2019 Update

May 21, 2019

For three years running, Stephen FitzMaurice, Principal Broker in Oregon with eXp Realty, sold more listings in the Portland metro tri-county area (Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties) than any other listing agent. There are roughly 9,400 real estate agents working in the same area. These home sale numbers come from our local MLS, the RMLS. Find the Best Portland Real Estate Agent Stephen believes that he is successful because of his customer first model. His real estate commissions are reasonable, 4.5% max. and his contracts are as easy as they come, cancel anytime with 24 hours notice for no charge. On top of that, he spends more (a lot more) than his competition to market his clients homes online so...

Real Estate Agent vs. Seller Agent Specialist: What’s the difference?

April 26, 2019

Portland’s real estate landscape is vast! There’s a specialist for nearly every activity — and that’s a good thing. To have a hassle-free real estate transaction, you need someone handling the mortgage, someone looking at the title, someone inspecting the home, etc. That’s why a system has developed over the decades in which, in a given home sale transaction, there’s usually one real estate agent for the seller and one for the buyer. Now some real estate agents will take that a step further and exclusively represent sellers or exclusively represent buyers as a career specialization choice to serve their clients in the most effective manner. 3 Seller Agent Specialist Advantages 1. Improved Customer Service When I first started the...

How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make? 2018 Update

December 10, 2018

The National Association of Realtors puts out a Member report annually. In the 2018 report, NAR lets us know: Real Estate Agents Made $39,800 According to NAR this is the median gross income of all Realtors from real estate activities in 2017. Realtors median business expenses for the year totaled $4,580. After all taxes and all expenses, the median net income of Realtors in 2017 was a mere $25,900. The Realtors who worked less than 20 hours a week had a median gross income of $8,930 a year and those who worked 60 or more hours per week had a median gross income of $102,630. For experienced Realtors with over 16 years in the business, the median gross income was...

How Many Real Estate Agents Are There? – 2018 Update

October 26, 2018

Number of Real Estate Agents in the U.S. According to the National Association of Realtors 2018 Member Report, there are 1.3 million Realtors in the United States, up from 1.22 million in their 2017 report, an increase of 6%. Typically speaking when the real estate market is strong, there are more real estate agents, and when the market softens, membership decreases. Real estate agents must obtain a license through a local state agency which provides oversight and requires education and testing. In order to maintain their real estate license, agents must also complete continuing education and keep their license in good standing with their state. If you need a quick reminder of the difference between a Realtor and a real...

What is a Principal Broker?

June 25, 2018

Real Estate Agent Real estate agent is the most commonly used and understood term in the public sphere to refer to someone who helps people buy and sell homes, but “real estate agent” is not typically the license term or official term the local governments use. Real Estate Broker Real estate agent is not the licensed term or the official term in Oregon and in most states. In Oregon someone who is licensed to sell homes or represent buyers purchasing homes is called a Broker. All of these Brokers will still typically refer to themselves as real estate agents because that is what the public easily understands (but these Brokers in their advertising requirements still need to refer to themselves...

Portland Real Estate Agent Reviews & Ratings: 2018 Guide

June 1, 2018

Best Real Estate Agent Review Sites These days, it’s pretty hard to find a product or service that hasn’t been reviewed and rated on a handful of different websites. In 2018, nothing goes un-rated, it seems, from TV shows to national parks, even zoo animals! Yet how do we tell the worthwhile reviews from the worthless, and what does the number of stars really say about a real estate agent? The Two Best Agent Review Sites Realtor.com and Zillow.com: these are the top two websites we recommend for checking out reviews of Portland real estate agents. Personally, we attempt to get all of our reviews on Zillow.com. I’ll say more on that later. Here’s why we think these are the...