Is anyone else sick of sales people?

[blazerdude20]

Depends on who your agent is.

My wife and I bought our first house last year and our agent was incredibly helpful. We drug him around for 9 months looking at houses and then buying ours. He gave us sound advice that made the experience smoother and more enjoyable. He helped us learn about lending programs and actually helped us find a cheaper house than the one we were "in love with", that worked out better for us. Pretty good deal for the % he made on 140k.

When we go to buy our next house we might not use an agent, but if we do it will be the same guy.

 

[ender land]

Yup I agree. I went looking at some of the new vehicles that are out at the different dealerships today. After writing this thread, you can imagine the feelings I had as I watched the sales people skulk over to try to talk to me. I would pull into the dealership, and drive to the vehicle I wanted to see, then hop out, look, and hop back in my car. Everytime they caught up to me and wanted to start trying to "sell" me on a vehicle. Ugh.

Your life is going to be miserable when you start looking at things like general advertising and product placement and realize the same things are true.

At least salesmen are obvious and blatant with their intents.

 

[chrono1081]

I used to be a commissioned salesman years ago when Circuit City was still around and the employees were still on commission (I think that ended in 2002...not sure I didn't work there anymore).

Sales is hard enough as it is, and even in a crap job like CCity you had to do a LOT of training because if you didn't know everything about every thing you sold a customer would return it and you'd lose money and get fired.*

For houses you have to go through entire courses and tests and things in order to be a real estate agent.

*CCity's customer service plummeted when they did away with commission because the guys making $50 - $60k a year left to go to other commission based jobs.

 

[Roller]

First of all, I'm not buying a million dollar house.

But I'd love to understand more about your point of view. Are you implying that because I underwent almost 10 years of education and training after college, in which I racked up tons of debt and, as a resident, was the lowest paid person in the hospital (including janitors, if you look at my hours worked vs salary), and that because I now earn a reasonable income that I deserve to be ripped off, or that I should not mind being extorted for ridiciculous fees?

That argument won't get you anywhere, trust me - I did 11 years after med school and was in my early 30s when I began my first post-training job, but many people who haven't been though it seem to think that all docs are overpaid.

Anyway, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss real estate agents. I've bought and sold several houses and was happy to have had competent realtors. I also had one home custom built, and that was a lot more work than I expected. As for car salesmen, I don't envy them their job. I did a lot of research when I bought my last car, so I knew more about it than the guy who sold it to me. I also knew exactly how much the car was worth, so negotiation was easy. I didn't begrudge the salesman whatever commission he made on the sale.

 

[dma550]

we really get our money's worth out our RE agent, I have no complaints. He helped us get a bank owned house for my mother and put up with the whole process for 3 months. AND he made about $2500! I think it worked out to about 3$ per hour!