patrick.net

stoni23 says

How many times have your customers called you at 9pm, and you realize that you NEVER HAVE A DAY OFF, and you NEVER HAVE A BREAK FROM WORK?

I bet you'd like the job even less if the marketplace decided the commission.

This reminds me of my car dealer friends, who think they add value but don't realize the value they add is to the dealers' bottom line. Realtors, car dealers, mortgage brokers aren't working on behalf of their clients, otherwise they'd be working to get you the lowest interest rates or warn you that the (insert product here) is about to collapse or at least be cheaper next month. They have no fiduciary duty.

There was a house by my old one that was 1.1 Million in 2007. By 2011 it was on the market for 900k. I dropped by to take a look around, and the Realtor was telling the visitors to buy now! Of course, it dropped another 200K after that. Was that her real estimation of the market? Was she driven by the commission? Either way, why does one have to pay for that crappy advice?

I haven't even met too many that understand how financing really works, or what a MBS is exactly.

Entitlemented says

Not completely true:

Bill Clinton had a 0.6 of a mea culpa:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GkAtUq0OJ68
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020617-2.html

Redfin business model is kind of like that isn't it?

I was listening to Patrick M. Byrne on a podcast today, he was saying that there is a sea change going on in all centralized authorities. This was because centralized authority was necessary in the past to authenticate transactions. But with today's technology that is totally possible on a pier to pier basis.

Besides the centralized authorities have proven themselves to be less than bona fide.