It is a new year – let’s review the latest whiz-bang internet sensations that are committed to replacing realtors as we know them!
This website has the audacity of wanting to be FAIR to all parties:
http://www.inman.com/2015/12/28/226477/
I doubt that sellers will want all offers (if any) presented online. This is another reason why full transparency won’t happen – sellers and listing agents don’t want to divulge their failure rate. Did I tell you about the house listed for nearly eight figures that hadn’t been shown in six months, which sold for 93% of list? If that buyer knew that there had been no showings – let alone offers – for six months, would they have paid that much?
I do like the idea of presenting the sellers with their net proceeds (a common practice already – sellers want to know their bottom line!). But I’ll do one better. As long as we are holding the buyer-agent’s commission against them, let’s have it be a negotiable item. Let’s disclose the buyer-agent’s commission rate on the contract so their buyers know (they don’t now), and then present the net proceeds to the seller. If some buyer-agents want to work for less, then great, the seller’s net proceeds will reflect it (giving those buyers a better chance to win), and hopefully the buyers will appreciate it. Conversely, if the buyers think their agent’s commission rate is out of line, they have a chance to address it.
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This guy is the Donald Trump of realtors – and like the Donald, he could spend enough money to make an impact:
http://www.inman.com/2015/12/30/billionaires-startup-is-probably-the-next-big-hybrid-brokerage/
But the one-stop-shop idea and discounted commissions have been around forever. What is not obvious to this billionaire is that you have to have top-notch, experienced agents who can close ANY sale to effectively run an order-processing shop. Sure, consumers want to pay less, but they need help getting to the finish line. Will consumers settle for less, and struggle through a transaction? Maybe, and many of them do now. They don’t expect much from their realtor and end up just getting what they get, so it is possible that someone spending millions on advertising could succeed with a sub-standard operation.
There will be more outsiders nibbling around the edges this year, I guarantee it!
P.S. Read the comments at the bottom of each link.
