Will Real Estate Agents Become Obsolete?

[Tim LaBorde]

On average, most consumers only move once about every 7 years or so and for the typical consumer, a good real estate agent can be worth her weight in gold as far as the negotiation skills and technical experience brought to the table. However, if you are a professional real estate investor selling properties every month, you need lower cost options that will not eat into your profit margins. Many companies offer a flat-fee listing service that will substantially reduce the cost of marketing a property on the MLS which can add up to tens of thousands of dollars saved if you're flipping houses. As a business owner, your number one priority is to keep your eye on the bottom line. As Ben Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." In this case we are talking about a whole lot of pennies! If you can show up on time, dress professionally, and communicate well, you should list your property with a flat-fee listing service and pocket the commissions you'll save. With all that extra change in your pocket, you can invite me to lunch. Win-win!

http://www.thestreet.com/story/13319909/1/will-real-estate-agents-become-obsolete.html

[Jay Hinrichs]

@John Ma  your talking technical information.. the reason real estate agents are needed and are not going away is very very simple.  Putting buyers and sellers together is a very bad idea... Sellers withhold critical information frequently ... And buyers puff their ability to buy.   

Anyone who has actually been and agent will tell you.. how offended a seller can be when a buyer low balls them.. to the point they tell them to take the contract and stuff it were the sun don't shine... You need agents to keep them apart.. Just like if you have ever been in a legal mediation  the two sides are in seperate rooms and the mediator works between the rooms... its a cardinal sin in RE sales to let the buyers and sellers communicate much more than a greeting.

think about the homeowner who loves there homes and their frilly wall paper.. young couple comes in and first thing out of the Mrs. mouth is this wall paper is gross ... seller is insulted deal never happens, this is real world RE sales.. not BP world

You need agents to control emotions.. you don't need agents to help the under 50 crowd work the internet.. and all the on line information.

Also this is an investing site so the slant is for investment properties which are different than 90% of transactions which are sellers selling to homeowners ( at least in the SFR realm) And commercial has different brokers who are much more intuned to the financial side of the transactions than your RE agent who is trying to find that certain look that the wife wants.

The reality is the wife if they have one will have the yes or no decision about 95% of the time.. Husbands huff and puff but at the end of the day its the wife that will make the final decision to pull the trigger and that decisions is based on female things IE how the house looks  whats in the kitchen the bathrooms the master etc.