It's nice to have access to the MLS data and how easy it is to set up a showing of a property that I want to see.The downside is you will have to pay the broker, MLS, and NAR fees along with continuing education requirements to maintain your license which can sometimes not be worth it.The biggest perk for me was having people I know come to me to list their house for them but instead I would just offer to buy it and make the process easy for them.

You might want to look at this NAR document: Right of First Refusal: A Guide for Real Estate Agents

To perk your situational awareness and switch you to economically enabled I need you to read Read the 2015 NAR Danger Report.  

With all this NAR lawsuit business going around, I think people believe that a real estate agent slaps the property on the MLS and that's it.

Its possible some places I don't know it's not law but to best of knowledge it is a NAR requirement.

Basically they were making these into more traditional transactions with a commission attached.To further complicate it, the NAR clear cooperation policy meant you couldn't share those off market any more without incurring a $500 fine, so they would basically end just going to market anyways in that case.

It doesn't matter what Airbnb might say, as a realtor, you have to use the NAR rental contract from you're State and RE Commission or an attorney draft one.

Only one month remains before the August 17 implementation date for the NAR settlement.

Thru the years the most biased of NAR operating procedures have been eliminated - so called fixed commission, dual representation, ban on discount brokers, and access to the MLS being limited to NAR members.  

At the beginning of the year, the NAR forecasted 4.5 million existing home sales in 2024.