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Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

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Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#261

Post by d0gsg0w00f »

0xB31B1B wrote: post #225
d0gsg0w00f wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How else would a car manufacturer put staff and inventory in every town across the country? They would either build dealerships themselves or franchise it out. Their cost structures don't cover this brick and mortar presence currently so costs would rise across the board. Car dealerships are mostly middlemen between customer, manufacturer, and state government for registration and tax collection. I just can't see how…

Tesla does all of this and they do it without dealerships. The problem with dealerships is they’re independent franchised businesses that extract but do not create value, not that they are buildings full of cars.

Where do you think a Tesla goes to get new tie rods or a body panel replacement? They lean on the existing service location network.

My friend needed body work on his Model 3 after someone hit him. They sent him to a traditional dealership body shop an hour away that was booked solid for 3 months. His insurance only covered a month of rental. His life situation allowed him to do the remaining 2 months without a car but not everyone has that luxury.

Tesla has to do this via partnerships and has little control over the customer experience. Great for people are willing to suffer for the brand but most will take the path with least headache.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#263

Post by rswail »

In Australia, buying agents are rare. The standard is that the seller engages an agent to sell the property, the fees (and other expenses) are charged by the agent to the seller.

One of the problems that is affecting our real estate market is the domination of two websites, the Murdoch owned realestate.com.au and the Nine owned domain.com.au

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/sep/19/the-b...

They both offer different advertising rates for agents than for individuals and lean on agents to purchase "packages" with a discount but an guaranteed number of properties.

So now there's a new oligopoly that started as a service to buyers, then a service to business, now is extracting as much of the value of the market to itself.

A classic case of "enshittification".

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#264

Post by rswail »

With the continuing advancement of AI in terms of dealing with both buyers and sellers, the tools should focus on both the buyers and the sellers.

The need for an "agent" as such becomes an unnecessary cost, if you can get an "associate" from the equivalent of airtasker, with insurance covering their liability to do the "showings" for you, while AI can deal with most of the email or other notifications.

Would allow individuals to run their own auctions to achieve the best price, deal with the settlement and title transfer.

Make it a fixed cost service, not based on the house valuation, so that there is no incentive to manipulate suggested prices, but base it on algorithmic evaluation.

Love the idea of AI battlebots in such exchanges in the future, but the legals better be tied down.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#265

Post by rswail »

I'm in Australia, so not a customer (yet), but I like the idea. I made a comment before about the potential for AI on the seller side of the transaction too.

One question/quibble:

How is the data collected from buyers kept isolated and secure?

Is it used to "personalize" algorithms related to offer suggestions, or will all users be guaranteed equal offer proposals?

I guess to summarize, how transparent will you be about your offer suggestions and AI driven analysis?

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#266

Post by aiaiaiaiaiai »

gycom wrote: post #129
greenfish6 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The primary driving factor on all these rates is the net take home for the seller. The reason why the total fee of 6% in a 3/3 split is because if this is done, then the seller will net about 10% higher than if they used no realtor. Similarly, for the buy agent half, they will get multiple extra % of home price above that 2.5%. The structure of the MLS / commission system incentivizes sellers to take out these large…

"Our own MLS" already exists in multiple forms; getting everyone to agree to use the same one is the problem, and AI isn't going to solve that.

As a non american, why arent the other sites getting used? And why does MLS cause this fee structure anyway? Why dont sellers give a 3% discount or cashback to agentless buyers too? It would be in their interest. The cashback would effectively reduce the downpayment.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#267

Post by aiaiaiaiaiai »

cortesoft wrote: post #109
koolba wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The 6% fee was paid by the sellers, not the buyers. Buyers didn't pay anything to the agents. Buyers are the ones paying everything. At 6%, that means the seller is willing to accept 94% of the sale price for the deal. So with a lower fee or simply less middle men feasting on low information transacters, a buyer with 94-100% could purchase that house and both parties would be happier.

You can switch the words “buyer” and “seller” in your statement and it still works. If you want to consider it being paid by the buyer, you can, or you can say the seller pays it. It is all factored into the deal either way. I would argue, though, that it is more accurate to say it is paid by the seller, though, since they are the ones who agree to the percentage with the agent, and who signs the contract to pay the…

Probably extra true for peoperties owned by salaried employees whose price is in a large part dictacted by income multiples. In other words market sets the price.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#268

Post by aiaiaiaiaiai »

pzo wrote: post #185
cortesoft wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the buyer’s employer is actually the one paying the buyer the money that goes to the mortgage, are we going to start saying the employer is the one buying the house? No, because that is just how the economy works, money changes hands constantly. We say the person who makes the choice for the purchase is the one who paid for something… the seller signs the contract with the agent, so they are the ones paying.

When you selling any kind of product or service the price you gonna charge will take into account expenses that you have to sell or make this product, e.g. if you sell app in appstore and Apple and other taxes will eat 45% of your app price and you know you will break even at $1 per app profit then definitely you will ask user for $2.

But will they pay? They may or may not, it depends on what it is. If you could get $2 without losing sales why would you have ever charged $1?

I get that middlemen and trends can affect price anchroring. So it isnt completely black and white.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#269

Post by cryptonym »

threeseed wrote: post #171
greenfish6 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually do believe that AI can make someone feel more comfortable with their purchase. Let's break down the communications that realtors currently do to comfort buyers (mostly over text, which is also how we communicate): Tell you comparably priced properties - we do this. Remind you the steps in the process - we do this. Tell you basic stats about local transactions (such as telling dejected buyers that only 1/6…

> we do this Everything you've described could be achieved with a basic web app. Not seeing what AI brings to the table here other than being a fake human that gives inaccurate advice ~5-10% of the time. Which seems risky when I am making the biggest financial decision of my life.

AI or human, they want to close the deal and get their share. They mostly don't care if that's good for you. Chances you will bring again some business are quite low.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#270

Post by aiaiaiaiaiai »

xienze wrote: post #90
itake wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 6% fee was paid by the sellers, not the buyers. Buyers didn't pay anything to the agents. But even then, the buyer's agents would "refund" the buyer ~2% of the fee as a cashback incentive to use a specific agent. but recently, the rule changed so the sellers are only required to pay the 3% fee to the seller's agent and buyers need to negotiate their own deal with the buyer's agent. Currently, there are many broke…

> The 6% fee was paid by the sellers, not the buyers. Buyers didn't pay anything to the agents. It’s the buyer’s money, which becomes the seller’s money, which gets paid to the agents. Realtors need to stop lying about who pays the fees.

2 identical appartments in a block. All equal. Both sell for $400k the going rate. One seller pays 6% and hell they pay income tax on it too. The other pays 0%. Which buyer paid for what again?
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