I think the report by Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes was completley unfair and one sided. It was titled " Chipping away at REALTORS 6% commission". She and the owner of a discount broker ripped on full service REALTORS asking what it is we do to earn our commission. This was a 15 minute report and 13 minutes of it was with the discount broker and 2 minutes with the full service agent. The report makes it sound like all we do for a listing is print flyers for the seller to put in a feature sheet box.

I have nothing against discount brokers, I think competition is good, but I also think you get what you pay for. I promote the service that I will provide and it is alot more than putting flyers in a feature sheet box! They mention nothing about an accurate CMA, staging, print marketing, e-marketing, constantly monitoring the market, following up with every lead, not to mention negotiating, facilitating and advicing. I have gone above and beyond for my listings on more than one occasion, one time that comes to mind recently, is when I picked up an expired listing, the seller had already moved out of state, he told me the key would be left under the matt. I went over and picked up the key around 7 p.m. and went inside the house to see what I had to work with, as soon as I opened the door I was almost knocked over by the smell of natural gas. It was so bad I was afraid to turn the lights on, I immediately called my seller and left him a voice mail, I then called the gas company and waited in the driveway until they arrived, I then stayed until the problem was found and repaired, it was around 11 p.m. when I finally got home. My seller did call me back the next day and was very appreciative.

As I said, I'm not knocking those who are discount brokers, but for this report to compare us to book salesmen is absurd. If you haven't seen the 60 minutes report, here is the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/11/60minutes/main2790865_page2.shtml

Shame on you Leslie Stahl and 60 Minutes for not being fair and researching all of the facts before airing your interview.