The Gofer Broker

Jonathan Marks makes his living as a real-estate agent. Lately, he's been babysitting rats.
With the housing market in a dive and homes lingering unsold for months, the relationship between real-estate agents and their clients is beginning to change. Both buyers and sellers are demanding more from their brokers, and getting it.
Jim Perry, an agent in St. Helena, Calif., spent most of an afternoon vacuuming up thousands of flies from