Homeowners are Dumb

Okay, I've held back long enough on this subject. Perhaps you have seen the commercials. In one, a woman is wandering through the jungle searching fruitlessly when her husband calls and she says she's having no luck finding a house. Finally, she sheepishly admits finding a house is best left to the "pros". In another commercial home sellers discover they're just not smart enough to sell their own home. I have a bit of pent up frustration anyway because the local star realtor has had our house on the market for like, 6 weeks. (Which is totally crazy because houses here often sell the first day they're open.) Ugh. But mainly I just resent the whole angle of these commercials. On our house a typical realtor would expect to pull down $42,000 - usually in a week or two. But are we actually not smart enough to sell our house? No, not exactly. Our prime handicap is the cartel of realtors who restrict access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and refuse to show FSBO properties. Barring those difficulties, a house like ours could quite easily be sold by people like us quickly and easily in this market.
But, realtors know that they're on the verge of being modernized out of existence like travel agents. They're trying to head off the challenge to their profession by making home transactions look super hard and scary. It's true, your first one is super hard and scary. You're petrified you're going to screw up - that you could buy the wrong house, or pay the wrong price, or accidentally sign your first child away in all those forms. But I gotta tell you, after house #1, it's pretty routine - and anyone of average intelligence could manage the process.
My brother in law became a realtor for about five minutes. He took a six week course one night a week and then took a quiz. It was less difficult to become a realtor than a driver - and oodles of homeowners and house hunters have successfully managed to become drivers. Hmmm, six nights of 3 hours - 18 hours - worth $42,000? Right, right, we're all too dumb to figure that out. Ugh, it's just too condescending. I'm also totally shocked how very very little realtors actually DO for that chunk of change.
I understand that realtors don't want to get supplanted by technology, but most advertising involves flattery of the customer, not insults.