On finding an agent, you make a completely valid point about the top producing agents.

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I self manage the rest.

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.

Due to the confusion on their end and their slow response, it's costing me more money than if I just went directly with the vendor from the start.

It’s the number of months it would take to sell all homes currently on the market at the current pace of sales.

There are lots of books on the topic but there's not substitute for taking action and learning from your mistakes.

The conference was the first of it's type I've attended...

Do they pay within 5 days of the first of the month (in some states that is not late)? 

I'm sure y'all already knew that!