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60 Minutes Segment on Real Estate - This Sunday on CBS

By
Real Estate Agent with Windermere Bay Area Properties

According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), a long-awaited 60 Minutes segment on real estate will air on CBS this Sunday at 7 PM. After dealing with the 60 Minutes investigative reporters for more than a year, here is what NAR expects:

  • The segment by Leslie Stahl will focus on the impact of the internet on the brokerage business and the emergence of "Internet" business models and contrast them with "traditional" full-service models.
  • The show will include a lengthy interview with Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, the Seattle-based company that claims to be "the industry's first online brokerage for residential real estate."
  • The piece will include interviews with sales agents for full-service brokerages in the Seattle area. It may also include some footage from the NAR annual meeting in New Orleans, where a 60 Minutes crew was on site for three days.
  • The segment may mention NAR's anti-trust lawsuit over their Internet listing display policy but it will not delve into the topic in any depth. NAR staff spent many hours educating the CBS producers about the topic and they decided not to get into the issue.
  • Nor will the segment likely discuss at length minimum service rules or other issues raised by critics like the Consumer Federation of America such as the make-up of real estate commissions. Once they delved into the charges and counter charges surrounding competition in real estate, the producers found that the whole topic was much more complex and not nearly as clear-cut as it appeared.
  • The entire segment was almost killed this spring. However, CBS apparently decided that it had so much invested in the story that it went ahead with a highly abridged version.

The bottom line is that NAR says it does not expect that the segment will make REALTORS® happy but it could have been much, much worse. NAR notes: "Be glad that it's Mother's Day and the show will probably draw fewer than its average 14 million viewers."

 

Comments (3)

Anonymous
Terrill..fic!

They didn't include much of the full service realtor side on this. I guess that ended up in the editing room.

May 13, 2007 12:03 PM
#1
Anonymous
Terrill...ific!
  • Nor will the segment likely discuss at length minimum service rules or other issues raised by critics like the Consumer Federation of America such as the make-up of real estate commissions. Once they delved into the charges and counter charges surrounding competition in real estate, the producers found that the whole topic was much more complex and not nearly as clear-cut as it appeared.
  • Let's start a discussion on this to get the truth out in the open on this so we can address it with consumers.

    May 13, 2007 12:05 PM
    #2
    Rich Schiffer
    Swarthmore, PA
    Referral Agent, e-PRO

    One thing that I take issue with in the 60 Minutes piece is that it leaves a false impression with the viewers.  They say that the commission is split between the agents on either side of the transaction.  What they failed to explain is that it is more likely split between the brokers on either side, who split their share with the agent.  In some business models, that may mean that the sellers agent gets paid 1.5% of the sale price, not 3%, and certainly not the full 6%.  If that agent's client came to them as a referral from another agent, that commission might be shared even further with the referring agent.  A 30% referral fee would lower that 1.5% to 1.05%.  In that case the $500,000 would represent $5,250 into the pocket of the agent, not the $30,000 or $15,000 that the article implied.  I think that part of their piece was an example of irresponsible journalism, which misleads the viewing audience, and has them reach potentially erroneous conclusions about the value of a REALTOR's services.

    60 Minutes is a great program, and they have exposed many scams that have abused consumers.  I think the producers who thought it was appropriate to suggest that full service brokerages are taking advantage of consumers may have some something other than objective journalism in mind.  I can only presume they have some personal or political horse in the race.  It certainly did not seem as objective as some of their other pieces I have seen.  Any time you tell only part of a story, it is easy to appear to be exposing something as being less than upright.  I understand their reluctance to tell the whole story, though.  They need to sell airtime.  If they told the whole story, they might bore viewers, and the sponsors might not like that.  I have probably bored you with my lengthy comment, so I understand if you tuned out, and went on to read the next comment, or even another blog on a more titillating subject...

    May 13, 2007 03:25 PM