There are an awful lot of people who decided to become realtors. The bust will wipe a lot of them out, and many of the rest will be taken out by cheaper web based services.
At 6% on a $200,000 house, you can just hire a lawyer to draw up the paper work and do a title search 3 or 4 times.
It’s going to go fee for service.
Old realtors vs. young Web threat
The Internet can make home sellers more self-sufficient, but is it really time for your real estate agent to look for a new line of work?
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
June 13 2007: 4:21 PM EDTNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — If there’s a lesson to be learned from the Internet, it’s that old business models can’t rely on past results – just ask your neighborhood travel agent.
Like stock brokerages, travel agencies have watched their customers migrate to do-it-yourself sites like Orbitz and eTrade because of easy service and low charges.
But what about real estate? Agents collect sizeable commissions for what looks like little effort. And now, for-sale-by-owner Web sites promise to eliminate the middleman and put more money in your pocket. So are realtors worried they’re going to be replaced by masses of home sellers infected with the D.I.Y. spirit?
“Selling without using a real estate agent is like representing yourself in court,” said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors.
No. There is now Zillow, title searches are increasingly being done online, and people increasingly realize that the realtor has an interest in juicing the price of the home, so buyers are less interested in those services.