When Al & Peggy Cunningham wrote this Featured Post, Is the Real Estate Agent Obsolete but Doesnt Know it Yet (Member's Only), I thought there were some interesting comments and facts shared by Al & Peggy as well as commenters on the blog. I must say that this is not the first I've heard and I've been hearing this rumors since I got into the business over 6 years ago.
The Internet is going to change the world and the Internet is going to take the place of the real estate agents. No buyers would need agents to show them around because the Internet has made the world closer. No sellers would need agents because they could post their homes for sale on the Internet. Everything is going to splash before your very eyes.
Most of my buyers do not buy homes just by looking on the Internet. They would need to see, feel, touch and smell the house before they feel comfortable purchasing it. My clients still need the person who they feel comfortable guiding them through the process whether they are doing it for the first time or the sixth time.
I'm not going to be bold enough to compare our profession with a dentist or a brain surgeon. Many agents try to say, the reason we shouldn't pull our own teeth or remove the tumor in our brain because we lack the knowledge or skillset. Now, that's thinking too highly of ourselves if we put ourselves in that caliber. But the truth is that if you are very good at what you do, you should be professional of your domain. No one - including your brightest and smartest clients should know more about home buying or selling than you do. While these professions require more than just an extensive education, as for me - I view these 2 things keep us (the real estate agents) in business:
Convenience
Have you read my recent post, Should You For Sale By Owner? In this post, I outlined some factors to consider if you want to go down that path. The bottom line is the CONVENIENCE factor. In our everyday life, we have so much to juggle and on top of it, you are trying to add a real estate transaction to the mix. A real estate transaction is NOT rocket science when you have no problems and all grounds covered and nothing go wrong in the transaction. It becomes a very stressful and complicated process, on top of being a costly lesson if not executed properly.
There are many parts to a real estate transaction. Most people stop at price and closing date. Most people don't realize there are lots of contingencies to a basic real estate transaction, built into the contract. If you are not well versed in understanding it, you will be pleasantly surprised that you might have missed several contingencies and have no recourse from the other party because you didn't understand what to watch for. Even if you did, do you want to? Or would you rather spend time and energy thinking about your next destination?
Computers and Internets do not run on emotions to process their decisions for buying. People, on the other hand do.
Voice of Reason
As much as real estate transactions have systems and standard procedures, when we throw "people" and human emotions into the mix, it no longer fit cookie cutter molds. I've been called Voice of Reason by my clients. When emotions are high, we need a 3rd party to pull us back down into reality. Buyers and sellers are very emotional during this process - after all it's their homes you are talking about. The house that made into homes with beautiful and lasting memories in it. Of course, emotions are running on full throttle.
In the end, as much as there are, or there will be memories in the house, it is still a business transaction. The numbers have to work right in fairness for both parties to the transaction. This is where I see the Internet, or Google can't do for people.
Agents could lay out the Do's and the Don'ts of a real estate transaction. Heck, websites could even outline Step 1 to Step 20 to take a real estate transaction from Contract to Closing. It's not that easy because we throw "us" into the mix and that's the problem.
The truth is that we are people. Different people bring different sets of feelings and emotions into the transactions.
If you believe that the Internet will make you extinct, you're right. If you believe that you will rise higher than the occasion, you're right too! As for me - I refuse to be extinct, so I must have a shift in my thinking about my services, my values and my difference I could bring to the real estate transaction.
So, are you with me? Or are you with me?
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Contact:
Loreena Yeo
Realtor®/ Broker of 3:16 team REALTY
(214) 783-2210
loreena@loreenayeo.com
Super-serving Frisco, Plano, Dallas, McKinney, Allen, Little Elm, Prosper, Celina, Richardson, Dallas M-Streets, Dallas White Rock Lake area communities and other surrounding areas.
Copyright © 2009 by Loreena Yeo (3:16 team REALTY)
I Refuse to be Extinct!
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Anthony, I love her blogs as well, and we will not go extinct, (mortgage guys or realtors) the public still needs someone to hold their hands through one of the biggest transaction in their lives and they also need something as simple as someone to ask: "do you want to buy this house?"