The manifestation of online real estate search engines, sales and buying tools with links to all that the MLS previously afforded real estate consumers - and much more is scaring the shit out of certain individuals who have chosen the profession of home realtor.
Realtors mistakenly view themselves as the most motivated party to sell your home or help you buy a home.
This assumption is incorrect.
They are NOT the most motivated to do either. They are motivated to make sales commissions which are directly proportional to the sale price of a home.
The truth is that home sellers and home buyers are more motivated. And they no longer need realtors in the same way they did before to intermediate on their behalf. If 80% of prospective homeowners are no longer looking at newspaper ads, no longer phoning up Joannie Loves Chachi Realty Group, and prefer to research home information, sales history, prices and neighborhood data online, including crime and school district statistics, then the realtors job and importance suddenly becomes less significant.
Realtors might be tempted to assert that only they "understand your needs" when it comes to buying or selling a home. But those days are over. A computer really can perform the light lifting regarding the research.
So why are realtors necessary? What tasks or duties of the home selling and home buying process make them so indispensable?
Perhaps there are certain duties and legal paperwork items to which realtors have traditionally attended.
Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin offers the following in the Ad Age article:
"The most motivated advertiser is the seller and millions of homeowners are proactive now. If people can see a home without an agent, where does that leave the industry? It's kind of marketing itself off a cliff."
Right off a cliff, indeed. Sometimes CEOs like to use the damnedest of metaphors to get their point across.
4 comments:
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If you don't believe that this can happen, check out the classsified ads in any metro paper. There are small fraction compared to a few years ago. Everything is on Autotrader, Craig's list and cars.com. This is bound to happen with RE. Now as someone who has purchased more than one home directly from the seller without a realtor, I will tell you that the paperwork is ALL handled by the escrow (and lawyers where they are required by state law). When the realtor comes with some paperwork for you to sign they are just trying to get their commission quicker.
I quit the National Association Of Realtors because they OFFER no protection to the real estate consumers. Laws are in Place but there is No Real Way to Enforce them.
The Real Estate Industry needs to crumble and rebuild. Appraisals are Not Accurate. There is No Quality control over the MLS data that is used as "comps". No one checks to make sure the data is put in correct. The Real Estate industry has a whole lot of room for fraud and Realtors don't know what you think they know, nor do they know what you Need to. Consumers NEED to Demand change in ALL aspects of the Real Estate Industry.
The Real Estate industry is a House of Cards in a Hurricane. I am an Ex-Realtor, still Real Estate Broker Owner and I want you to know that there is No Consumer Protection in the Real Estate Industry. My Real Estate Consumers LOSE and there is Nothing I can do, sounds like my E and O insurance protects ME and not my Buyers and Sellers. It Takes One Week to Get a Real Estate License and One More Week a Year later to take the same class and get a Broker's License. There is Not One reason you need a Realtor.
www.ConfessionsOfARealtor.com
I wonder how many consumers still think realtors are indispensable when it comes to sell their property... The endoctrination runs deep.
Is there a site in the USA where everyone goes when they're looking for a home?
Here in New Zealand, we have http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/index.htm
Everyone knows about about it, even people whith no computer !!!
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