Are Realtors an Endangered Species?
According to the best-selling authors of Freakonomics, the answer is a resounding Yes. In a recent New York Times article, they support the much debated theory that real estate agents are headed for the same fate as stock brokers and travel agents. In this scenario, only a handful will survive, and most people will turn to discount brokers, flat-fee brokers, and fee-for-service agents.
Despite this ominous prediction, and their scathing review of agent behavior in their book, one might expect them to express disdain for this profession. However, in an interesting twist, they make the case that the public should feel sorry for real estate agents. Agents appear to be caught in the confluence of powerful economic currents, that are now being disrupted by the explosion of Real Estate information on the Internet.
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Great post.. I totally agree. Industry visionary Stefan Swanepoel and author of the Trends Report says in a recent post that the industry has too many agents. Boy did he hit it right on the head. I have always thought that every Tom, Dick and Harry is an agent. Read his post here.
March 14th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I run both a full service real estate company and a flat fee brokerage here in New York. Levitt has an axe to grind with real estate brokerage, and I have even corresponded with him on it. He once did a study that concluded that agents take more time to sell their own home and therefore hold out for more money than they will for their clients (quick buck). From a broker’s vantage, Levitt may know alot about statistics, but he’s woefully uninformed about real estate.
Part of an HONEST study would be to normalize the statistics for things that would cause an unlicensed homeseller to want to sell faster and/or for less money, such as loss of a job, lack of objectivity about one’s own home is percieved by the public, and so forth.
Agents typically take their own advice and their homes show like museums. They get it. I have clients who cannot understand that their pet odor, refusal to remove themselves for showings, and too often, poor judgement all factor in to sabatouging their sale.
That said, there are FAR too many agents, and the ease with which it takes for licensure is more to blame.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 pm
[…] Like everything else in life, selling your house can be confusing. It’s a big decision, & doing it incorrectly can give you a lot of stress & make you lose a lot of money. I learned about something new today called Flat Fee MLS which is the middle ground between selling your house by yourself & having a realtor. You will cut your agent fees in half, & you will have to do some of the marketing yourself, but you will probably save a lot of money. There was recently an article in the New York Times about how realtors are an endangered species. It make sense, people put a lot of money & time into their home, & they don’t want to have to give a substantial portions of that to a realtor. Going it alone can also be scary. This is the best of both worlds. […]