That goes without saying, but as long as you're saying it . .
Have you read the book, Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner? They devote a chapter to realtors, of the Chicago variety, who may or may not be representative. By compiling selling price statistics they conclude that a realtor's motivation is to collect that commission as quickly as they can when it's another person's home but to hold on for a higher offering price when selling their own.
This could be another whole hour for Stossel, if he needs more material.
That seems to be the case from anecdote and observation. A realtor knows in advance what his commission is likely to be, and human nature is inclined to put less effort into a scenario where the pay off will be approximately the same regardless of the output - especially on an entry level home. The realtor is better served seeking new contracts that will yield 3k for himself than haggling for an extra 3k for the homeowner, which will only yield $90 for the realtor (1/2 6% commission on a 100k home).
So, if the professional does not put out signs on the nearest major street, for instance, he is out nothing in payment, and saved some work. But the homeowner who goes four months without a single call on a reasonably priced home is out four months of interest on the mortgage payments, which can be equivalent to dropping several grand off the asking price.
This creates pressure (in this market especially) for the homeowner to sell at a lower price and move it quickly for his own benefit as well.
Not having read the book you mentioned, I suspect that realtors in your study do not have the same pressure to sell right away because their homes are more likely to be investment properties, without the pressure facing a homeowner to quit paying on a home he has left or will be leaving so he can apply it to a new one.
If one must use a realtor to sell a home, the best recourse may be to take advantage of the fact that they can’t charge you extra every time you call (like an attorney could), and get them to push your house early just to get rid of you. Then you might have the time to reject a few low bids if necessary.
Attorneys have another intrinsic conflict of interests with their clients built into the fact that their relationship with the client is only temporary, and their relationships with other attorneys and judges is career long. This can lead them to be “nice” to the colleague or judge (redundancy?) when “mean” is what would serve the client best.
Yes, there needs to be oversight of various professions, as it is one of the legitimate functions of a government to protect the weak from the strong. A “professional” or a corporation can be no different from a criminal on the street with a gun, and often should be treated no differently by the law; unfortunately, the former two seem to have more protections afforded their rights than the latter, or those of the victims of their negligence or malfeasance.
Rather than protecting the public, licensing boards often seem to create a class of people who are protected in their actions and allow the rules to be such that the pressures on the professional will very often be opposed to the pressures on the client, who has no choice but to apply to a licensed professional for help. If this is the case, government would better protect the governed by removing the barriers to tort (I am aware of the inconsistency of apparently calling for more lawyers here) than by making lots of rules via licensing boards, most of which seem to indicate the the ‘client’ of the government is the profession rather than the people.
That this is an uphill battle for most people and cases is only natural given that the politicians who decide on such things are in large numbers members of these professions themselves.
Other “professions” have more pressure to act in a manner more in line with the interests of the client. A licensed plumber may have pressures to use the cheapest material he can and work as rapidly as he can so he can move on to the next paying client, but he knows well that if he doesn’t do it well, he will lose more money from clients lost by word of mouth than he saved in parts, he may have to redo everything until it is done properly (also losing time on new jobs), he may be reported to the BBB or a number of websites, or he may be sued. Not surprisingly, very few plumbers (are you out there, Joe?) are represented in the ranks of our representatives.