Home Sales

Not sure how I feel about NAR after receiving this email from a Houston real estate broker that questions our relationship with NAR:

Are Realtors Stupid?
by Houston real estate broker Tim Ziffle

It's fascinating to watch how Realtors allow their National (NAR) and local Realtor association's actions undermine their  profession.  Amazingly, Realtors pay horrendously high fees to their Associations for access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), which the public  gets for FREE?

NAR and various local Realtor Associations continue to marginalize their membership by allowing and encouraging data mining parasites (Zillow, Trulia, Homegain, ect.) access to the MLS data that's created on the backs of Realtors, and have led their membership to believe that somehow someway that there is a benefit to having some sort of relationship with these entities?

Real Estate agents create the data, the data mining parasite's market it and try to develop leads to sell back to the very people that created the data? Who allowed this business model to happen? It appears realtors are too naive to know when they’re being exploited? And, what do Realtors and their associations do about any of this? Nothing. No one seems willing to question the relationships between these outside third parties and their Realtor Associations.  Why are we feeding these large online data mining corporations our data? American Airlines and Southwest Airlines just told their data mining parasite to take a hike! Anybody listening?

Now these Associations have finally agreed to aggregate all local MLS systems into a National MLS. The Third Party Data Mining companies are salivating. It can't happen soon enough. The public can now know more about every market in the US than the vast majority of local Realtors could ever know. Like Cramer on Seinfeld says, “they know nothing!” Why are the Realtor Associations out of synch with it’s membership’s best interest?  If Realtors are so stupid, why would anyone use one?

WANT PROOF OF REALTOR STUPIDY?

What other industry’s trade Association do you know, that would…

Charge its members thousands of dollars each year to be a member of both the local, state and national Associations and then, require its individual members to spend huge amounts of time, money, gas, effort, collecting /photographing and inputting tons of information into the members collective Association database , then tells its members that it will now give all their information to their competitors for an UNSHARED FEE ,and ultimately, to the public for free? 

Does anyone remember what real estate was like when we controlled our MLS data? Why has it been decided that placing these third parties between the Realtors that create the data, and prospective buyers and sellers a good thing? Anyone that remembers when we ran our own MLS systems will grasp the significance of this.

NAR is now advising its members that their Association NOW intends to combine all their individual member’s information into a giant national database, and give that away for free to the public - so there is  no need for the public to continue to believe that there are valid reasons why they should hire the Association’s members for their individual knowledge, expertise and counsel.   NAR then has the audacity to tell its Association members that their LIFE-LONG CAREER ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVES are looking out for the individual member’s best interest, and to make sure that all the future information they collect and input into the database must be correct and timely , or they will be fined by their association?

The individual association members continue to actually believe whatever their Associations tells them, and continue to send in their thousands of dollars each year to their Associations, in order to ensure the continuation of their MINDLESS REALTOR ASSOCIATION CULT! WHY?(Many members even proudly wear a REALTOR pin to demonstrate their individual stupidity, and official cult membership status!) Are Realtors Stupid?


Tim Ziffle is a real estate broker in Texas

It's still a good time to buy a home! But buyers really need to get out there and find their dream home soon, because the interest rates are rising and home prices are beginning to trickle up too!

There will remain some good deals out there of course, but buyers really need to watch interest rates, and if they are having ideas of purchasing a home this is certainly a great  time to pull the trigger!