Realtors No Longer at the Center of the Transaction…Is It Inevitable?
May 13, 2008 by Stefan Swanepoel
A report released in March of this year opened with … A "Statement of Inevitability" states that "consumer-focused real estate Web sites are gathering more and more information," and "without convenient, immediate access to information to analyze/interpret for their clients and customers, Realtors will no longer be at the center of real estate transactions."
The report, released by NAR’s Gateway Presidential Advisory Group, states that the project has been renamed to The Real Estate Channel (TREC) and is focused on enabling the real estate community to continually expand the breadth, depth, immediacy and power of trusted real estate information available to
Realtors.
According to the Advisory Group, it looks as though the process is underway and one of the key elements requires participating MLSs to make their information available to all Realtors and MLS participants and they must be RETS compliant.
The project’s focus is to … “provide a national database of property information based on the collaborative efforts of Realtors and the real estate community (including MLSs), drive the development and implementation of data standards and definitions, expand the scope and content of information available to real estate professionals, and afford economies of scale ‘to purchase’ information needed to populate its database.” The result will be that TREC will become an added Internet Data Exchange (IDX) feed.
The report also put an end (at least for now) to the concern of Realtors that TREC would become a “National MLS” and provide for public access to the data. As a result of NAR’s contract with Move Inc. (Realtor.com) those options seem to be off the table. However, the report added, "we're hopeful that we can somehow get that set aside or get involved in that more deeply. We're recommending that something be drafted so we can accomplish that."
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Posted in: General Internet/eCommerce Real Estate Technology Real Estate Trends Realtor Associations Specialty Services
With the realty world changing with the use of the internet, why would anyone waste their money on a realtor? New websites are creating a way to get buyers and sellers together without the help of a realtor. New websites like HutHound.com, offers the ability to list properties free and for an unlimited time. If a seller or buyer has the need for a professonial related to real estate, some of the websites like HutHound.com, have links to vendors to help. All this can be done without wasting a dime on a realtor. What qualifications are required of a realtor (who knows you might be hiring someone less qualified than you).
Even if it doesn't become open and free for public use, realtors are becoming less and less important for real estate buying, selling, transactions, and just about everything else. The only thing realtors really do is show the place (which the people could do themselves if they wanted), fill out a form or two, place the property on Internet sites that are open to the public (craigslist, zillow, etc...), and maybe in the local newspaper depending on the area.
Lawyers and title companies handle all the closing details and paperwork.
So a person could basically: find a place online they like, call the seller's agent from the number there, go see it themselves, and then need to find their own agent to fill out the offer form. What else is there for the buyer's agent to do? Nothing. Unless they're also a licensed inspector they can't help with that part of it. The buyer needs a lawyer to handle all the aspects the real estate agent can't handle unless they themselves went to law school.
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