With apologies to Mark Twain, the reports of death of the real estate brokerage industry are highly exaggerated.

No one will argue that the Internet has changed the way that consumers do business. The free flow of information has dramatically affected the way that properties are exposed to the buying public, as well as a plethora of advice about the nuts and bolts of a real estate transaction.

Anyone can sell their own property. They always could, there's nothing new about that. But there is one reality that will never change and that is this:

People often pay to have something done that they could do themselves.

There are many times when it is more efficient, convenient, or even cost-effective to hire someone else to do a task or perform a function that an individual is perfectly capable of doing. We all do this every day. For example:

I know their way around the kitchen. Most would say that I'm an above average cook. But I still go to a restaurant often and have someone else do the work for me. It's very convenient.

I did my own bookkeeping and income tax returns for over thirty years. Now I use the services of a CPA. In addition to being convenient and more efficient, it's also cost-effective because he saves me money by doing the job correctly every time.

I am perfectly capable of mowing my own lawn. I have all of the tools of the trade. But my time is better spent doing the things that I do best, which are marketing and real estate sales. So I hired a lawn service.

I once had an HVAC license and pretty much know everything about how furnaces and air conditioners operate. Yet I have a processional service mine because regular maintenance will improve the life of the units and save energy costs in the long run and I know that I'll put off doing it myself until something bad happens.

I can build a house. As a matter of fact, I have built over forty of them, two with my own hands from start to finish. But the last three houses that I bought were already constructed, because the time and headaches required to build my own home were not cost-effective for me. The loss of income during the construction period would offset any savings realized by doing it myself.

My point is this: people will always be willing to pay to have someone else to perform a task for them as long as it is more convenient, more efficient, or more cost-effective for them.

And as long as a real estate agent demonstrates the value proposition of professional service to the consumer, brokerage will always exist in some form.

Because the consumer is willing to pay the service!

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