patrick.net
An Antidote to Corporate Media
1,364,071 comments by 15,737 users - Glock-n-Load, mell, Patrick, stereotomy online now
« First « Previous Comments 34 - 39 of 39 Search these comments
rootvg
@
2012 Mar 7, 2:30am
Selling (buyers') agents really earn their money by helping educate their clients about neighborhoods and the local market.
I've been a renter in the neighborhood where we hope to buy for the last 20 years. Following the bubble pretty closely since 2000.
Most everything you need to know is on line now (comps, sales history of a certain house, property taxes, etc.) Between MLS, Redfin, Trulia, zillow, the assessor's parcel info. online and property shark, anyone who is at all comfortable on the web can find out a lot.
BusinessWeek did a story on this several years ago. They said technology is doing to residential real estate salesmen what it did to car salesmen about ten years ago. Information is now widely available and the technology to access that information is highly pervasive. There's really no such thing as getting screwed at a car dealership anymore. I know plenty of people who don't even buy new cars these days. I haven't bought a new car in over ten years and don't know if I ever will again thanks to Craigslist.
gregpfielding
@
2012 Mar 7, 5:17am
They said technology is doing to residential real estate salesmen what it did to car salesmen about ten years ago. Information is now widely available and the technology to access that information is highly pervasive. There's really no such thing as getting screwed at a car dealership anymore.
There is a big difference between real estate salespeople and car salespeople. Cars are commodities. You can shop between dealers for the exact same cars to get the best deal. The cars don't "sell themselves" in terms of where you buy them. Car salespeople have to "sell" you right then and there. In effect, they aren't selling the car, they are selling the deal. People find the car they want, then shop for the best deal.
Houses, by contrast are much more unique and individual. People find the house they want, and then try and get that specific home for an acceptable price. It's not like they can go buy that exact same house at a different dealership. Real estate salespeople do much more facilitating a deal then hard-selling a deal.
freak80
@
2012 Mar 7, 5:39am
Realtors will be replaced by machines. Just like the rest of us will be.
rootvg
@
2012 Mar 7, 5:46am
Realtors will be replaced by machines. Just like the rest of us will be.
I think that's a little extreme.
Not everyone thinks as we do. Not everyone lives in a place that's as wealthy and progressive as this. The area where my father's family lives has changed very little in the last twenty years. It's the one place I head to when I need to get away but also have access to internet and phone if the excrement hits the oscillator at work and the on call needs to find me. I called my boss and checked in from our rented SUV on an old forest road on top of a 3000 ft mountain in central Pennsylvania. I was away but yet I was there...and it felt really damn good.
zzyzzx
@
2012 Mar 8, 4:21am
BusinessWeek did a story on this several years ago. They said technology is doing to residential real estate salesmen what it did to car salesmen about ten years ago. Information is now widely available and the technology to access that information is highly pervasive. There's really no such thing as getting screwed at a car dealership anymore. I know plenty of people who don't even buy new cars these days. I haven't bought a new car in over ten years and don't know if I ever will again thanks to Craigslist.
Last time I bought a car was October 1995!
Houses, by contrast are much more unique and individual. People find the house they want, and then try and get that specific home for an acceptable price. It's not like they can go buy that exact same house at a different dealership. Real estate salespeople do much more facilitating a deal then hard-selling a deal.
You can usually get a home that's close enough. The whole thinking that housing is unique is mostly in your head.
« First « Previous Comments 34 - 39 of 39 Search these comments
I am hoping that RE agents eventually go the way of travel agents and the dodo bird.
Would like advice on how to buy a house without using a buyer's agent. Sheesh, all they do is open some lock boxes for you (can't the listing agent do that?) and drive you around in their big fancy cars (no thanks I can drive myself to open houses). In 2 months he hasn't told me about anything that I didn't already find listed online myself.
If you know what you want and you know the neighborhood and the comps, do you really need a buyer's agent?
Can't I just go to several of the top-selling listing agents in the neighborhoods I want to live and tell them what I am looking for. When a house I want comes up, offer dual agency and hire my own RE lawyer and inspector.
What are the pros and cons of this? What am I missing?