Ding Dong
Ben Hammersley notes that real estate agents are about to get disintermediated:
Real-estate agents have been on the endangered-profession list for a while (thanks, Internet and 2% brokers), but Home Depot may make them extinct. In seven southern states, the DIY store will be testing home-selling kits aimed at the growing for-sale-by-owner market. For $12.95, you get a sign to put in your yard, but more important, you get a listing and photos on Owners.com, which claims to be the largest for-sale-by-owner site, with 5 million customers. The site has an answering service that fields calls from prospective buyers, eliminating the rôle of agents and their 6% commissions. If the test goes over well, Home Depot plans to offer it nationally. And loud blazers will be seen only at country clubs.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of value subtracting people...
Comments
Ding Dong
[ Rich Demers] November 27, 2004 11:05:37.639
Comment by Rich Demers
Real estate agents disappearing? I don't think so.
Yes, the Internet will make it possible to sell desirable homes when the economy is good, and it is convenient to show your own home, and buyers have time to shop -- but those are ideal circumstances.
It is almost never easy to sell a "problem house." Buyers have so much trouble seeing past even bad decorations that some sellers hire specialty firms to spruce-up a house for sale. This usually isn't a problem for me (as a buyer), but on one occasion I repeatedly rejected a new house because I disliked its color. My broker finally convinced me to take a look because it was everything else I wanted and paint was cheap. I ended up buying and repainting it.
Then, there is the fact that no one buy a house without one or more personal visits to it. If you are selling a house yourself, you HAVE TO be able to show it, but there are lots of reasons why that just isn't possible. A multiple-listing lock-box that allows brokers to show it for you is then indispensable.
And then there are buyers who are being transferred into an area and need help finding a new house on a 1-week house-hunting trip. It really helps to work with a broker who really knows the new area and its housing market.
Real estate agents disappearing? No, but there may be a need for fewer of them, and those remaining will have to work harder and provide a level of service far beyond what is available on the Internet.