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Are Agents on the Way Out?

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Foreclosure Grove

Are Agents on the Way Out?

A New York Times article published on December 20th, profiled two parties selling their properties. It's a fascinating case study in the long-running debate about whether or not internet tools will leave real estate agents like their travel agent counterparts: unemployed.

According to Steve Murray of Real Trends,

Younger people, he said, are far more likely to embrace the multitasking and risk taking involved in selling their own homes. If the decision to use an agent is becoming generational as well as situational, that would not augur well for real estate agents.

The article goes on to report that in regard to feeling like a realtor is necessary, there appears to be a generation gap regarding who feels like a realtor is necessary and who doesn't. The person in the article who sold their home via online tools estimated that they spent only $1,000 compared to the $50,000 that she would have to pay in broker's fees had she not used online tools.

The article closes with a gentleman in his 40's who is trying to sell his home who says,

I would think anyone who is comfortable with the Internet would prefer to do it this way. Eventually, who won’t be?

So as the access to information involved in selling properties is democratized, how will realtors stay relevant?

- Rob

Comments (2)

Jeffrey Friel
Keller Williams Greater Omaha - Papillion, NE
OmahaSoldHomes.com - 517-1614

A scary thought indeed.

Dec 28, 2009 07:13 AM
Roger Johnson
Hickory, NC

Agents aren't on the way out any time soon.  The main reason why is already in the article sited: Most people simply do not have the time and knowledge to sell their property.  The Internet hasn't changed that fact.  If anything, the Internet has made the process of buying and selling real estate harder simply because the accuracy of all that "data" that's available now to the public is questionable at best.  It takes a professional in the business to get to the heart of the data still.

FSBO's always want to talk about "saving" the commission.  Yet the majority of buyers that actually call on FSBO's are intent on "saving" the commission as well.  Both parties cannot save the commission, so who wins?

Finally, the majority of actual sales, not "For Sales," by far, is still through real estate agents.  The majority of sellers still find that agents matter, many after trying to sell via FSBO.  And the majority of buyers still find an agent useful, too, so FSBOs are simply not advertising to the majority of buyers.

In the article, a sale has not come any faster by the person attempting to sell on her own, despite a rather large price decrease.  The also was no mention of how many actual real potential buyers have viewed the home or made offers, etc.

Dec 28, 2009 07:26 AM