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Most of you who read my blog know that I'm a former nurse AND the wife of a quadriplegic so, this analogy is even far-fetched for ME but, I've just got to rant a little here! 
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64 Comments on WebMD, Can You Teach Me How to Perform My Own Tonsillectomy?
I only have one question about learning to do your own tonsillectomy on the internet. . .Is alcohol involved:-) And as you have pointed out about internet inaccuracy, would one really want to try!
BRAVO Debe. While we can read up on the process, and learn some of the medical venacular we still need to rely on those trained to do all the cutting and stuff. Hopefully, they don't nic the jugular while they're at it . . . LOL
Debe -- a great post and one which we need to make all of our clients aware of. I think our profession has not done a very good job of explaining our value to consumers... Just saying Realtor(s) follow a code of ethics doesn't do it.
Debe - Are you sure you're not up for your own tonsillectomy? ; )
Seriously, I agree. So many people think they can learn so much from research. The problem is they don't realize what they don't know.
You give our profession too much credit. Information on value is available to the public. For example, if you look at Zillow to see comps, rather than the Zestimate, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect to pay. It doesn't take long to learn price per square footage and floorplans. Combine it with other online websites and personal viewings of properties, the buyer may be in a position to make logical arguments as to the price they would like to offer.
Another point is that if you find yourself in disagreement with your client about pricing and you are unable to negotiate a common ground, then maybe the best thing to do is to end the relationship.
We agents are no longer the gate keepers of information. Our buyers are now more informed than ever.
Debe...
I think that we have all been there and done that, but the key is to establish trust. Most buyers require one or two "misfires" before they truly get it!
I went to a new doctor recently (one visit was enough) and he looked up treatment options on WebMD. Thought that he went to school for umpteen years to learn that stuff, he must not have paid attention. So that would be like Realtors relying on XYZillow to come up with list prices, I wonder how many real home sellers would be astonished and amazed by our marketing if we relied on that 35% margin of error. Which end of the margin would you want to be on Mr/Ms. Seller?
LMAO @Myrl! And, Satar, living in an area that is overwhelmingly populated with young, tech savvy professionals, they come to us with their findings quite often. MOST of the time, those findings are at a minimum 5% off and up to 40% off. I can honestly say that if I knew that if I could hire a professional in any realm of business that would save me 5%, I'd do it. No, our systems are not all online--much of what they read, as you say, are incorrect and written by our own competitors. The fact is, they DO need us. Our value goes beyond the pricing, for sure.
Gail, I don't ask them to trust me either--I demonstrate that I can be trusted. The incredible amount of false information that the consumer gathers online has to be 'proven' to be false; whereas in previous years, we didn't have this challenge.
Again, what is so sad to see if the consumer believing what they read online and that false information costing them their dream home in a bidding war. As Michelle said, it's often after 1 or more Offers that some do understand that we're here to give them the accurate, up-to-date stats that will help them win that dream home.
I think this drives all of us crazy. These value estimates on the internet are not comparing apples to apples. They simply take closed sales within a given geographic area and price per sq ft. In Park City, each neighborhood is its own little microcosm. Neighborhood x certainly does not price the same as neighborhood y - and they almost touch. I had a very savvy buyer that would look at the internet estimates to determine a home's value regardless of what the actual comps would say. They lost 6 homes to lowball offers before they got it. Then when they put their home on the market they would complain about how those estimates were not even close to the value of their home!
Debe, I hear you loud and clear. The buyer's seem to think they are experts these days and they no longer need us to help them find a home. They show up waving a dozen listings they pulled off Zillow or Trulia only to find out those homes have sold. Then they are angry at us because their dream house has already been sold to someone else. I am really getting to the point where I think syndication of listing information is doing more harm than good. It leaves the buyers with the idea that they are the experts, not those of us who have trained and worked through the good times and bad and survived.
Hi Debe, we get the same thing all the time from sellers who have sold 6 or 10 homes FSBO over the last 30 years! Today is a different market!
Debe thank you for your great post !! Amazing how buyers think they know more than a professional!
VERY well said. I had a first time home buyer recently figure out the trend. Impressively, he figured it out all by himself after he lost the first house he really wanted. Unfortuanly, he is in the very small minority.
Great topic Debe, I have been a licensed Realtor, bought and sold properties in the double digits and would still not want to handle my own transactions over using an agent and letting do their job.
Sounds like buyers I have dealt with. Unsuccessful buyers, I have to add. See, the sellers and their agents don't have any need or desire to listen to this crap. Not in this market.
Debe - Ha ha! I saw on Bankrate.com that ........ yes, you saw an advertisement. What they didn't tell you is that to get that rate you'll have to pay 4 points! As much as the buyer wants to lead the way our job as real estate professionals is to steer them away from the icebergs. Great post Debe! It rings true in the world of mortgages too. They are not licensed in either of our fields yet they know it all. Amazing I say!
Couldn't agree more. We have more information at our disposal and a better understanding of the markets in our areas than buyers and sellers.
Debe--as I left a comment on your post after this one I saw this title so I just had to come back to read it. I am shaking my head not in disbelief but acknowledegement of what you said in your post and in agreement with so many other commentators here. Good post and congrats on Feature.
I completely agree, Nevin! I hear that all of the time--and buyers are notorious for using trying to use these internet companies for their loans. Anytime I see a buyer coming with one of those pre-approvals, I ask the agent to get a 'real' pre-approval. Every time the buyer tries going through them, they either 'mis-qualify' them or they just never get the job done and the buyer gets frustrated and winds up using one of their agents' preferred lenders.