Real Estate Agent/Broker VS Licensed Agent: What’s the Difference & Why Should You Care?
What’s the difference between an agent a broker and a Licensed Agent? What’s a brokerage? Why are there teams and groups in real estate? Quite honestly, it can be confusing, and we believe consumers should have access to a basic “Real Estate Lingo 101” summary. So here’s ours. Let’s break it down!
A “broker” is synonymous with “agent”. By law, all agents/brokers must work under a brokerage. For example, ours is a family-owned business, Baird and Warner (B&W). B&W is the largest independent and locally-owned real estate company in Chicagoland.
A real estate “group” is typically a collaboration of brokers working together as a team. Our group, Anne Monckton Group (AMG), is made up of like-minded brokers with a passion for service and love for our community. We are also all licensed agents. The word “REALTOR®” is a registered trademark for someone who is an active, paying member of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Not all real estate agents operate under the same standards, which is why all licensed agents abide by a specific Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. Have invested their money to belong to the world’s largest professional organization and gain access to professional development, special resources, products, and services that will benefit their clients.
Here’s why you should care: In our industry, it’s been often said that the top 10% of agents do 90% of the business. Now, read that again. You want a professional who is 100% engaged with the market. Don’t trust someone who’s part-time with your biggest financial purchase. Would you trust a guy who just watched a YouTube video to work on your car? Would you trust a surgeon to operate on you who only performs a couple of surgeries a year? Or would you rather have a surgeon who does a couple of surgeries a week? Or even per day? Navigating real estate transactions takes skill, knowledge and experience.
Our team collectively shares 20+ years of experience in the real estate industry with over $20MM sold in the last 12 months. We know what we’re doing, we love what we do and we do it well. Our team at AMG are all locals and hyper-focused on Chicago’s West Suburbs. Can we sell anywhere in Illinois? Of course. Do we? We like to focus on our sweet spot: where we live and what we call home. The majority of the team has been born and raised in the very communities we specialize in. We pool our team’s resources and cater a truly bespoke experience whether you’re buying, selling, renting or investing.
Still confused? Here’s a summary: Brokers are agents, unless you’re talking about a managing broker, who runs the brokerage. Professionals are educated, licensed and passionate about serving their clients. Think of licensed agents as the Kleenex® of facial tissues. It may seem like a fancy brand name, but it set the standard.
STILL confused? Don’t cry. Use a Licensed NAR professional.
