Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
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Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
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Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#2There are a few things the Internet is incredibly good at. Content delivery, communication and administrative services. If you're in any of these industries, don't expect your job to be around 10 years from now. It's time to evolve.
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#3There are a few things the Internet is incredibly good at. Content delivery, communication and administrative services. If you're in any of these industries, don't expect your job to be around 10 years from now. It's time to evolve.
EVERY industry needs to evolve along with technology or suffer the consequences.
I think there should be far few real estate agents working in the US. And that the level of innovation should dramatically increase. But agents will not become a completely endangered species in the foreseeable future...certainly not within the next 10 years. The best agents will just become better at their jobs and BENEFIT from technological advances. The future usually doesn't shake out like people think it will, and disintermediation due to the internet is one of the forces that is usually overestimated. People who think real estate agents will cease to exist because of the internet don't fully understand what a good agent does. I know, because I was one of those people just a few years ago. There's a reason some people need agents, just like there's a reason I never ordered my dog food over the internet, Pets.com be damned.
I started a real estate brokerage after working in the software/internet and finance industries. Getting the license was just a legal formality because I was all about disintermediation. I was going to help eliminate those greedy, good-for-nothing agents. But then I learned that the good agents DO serve a purpose. And that the industry is much more complex than most people understand.
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#4There are a few things the Internet is incredibly good at. Content delivery, communication and administrative services. If you're in any of these industries, don't expect your job to be around 10 years from now. It's time to evolve.
EVERY industry needs to evolve along with technology or suffer the consequences. I think there should be far few real estate agents working in the US. And that the level of innovation should dramatically increase. But agents will not become a completely endangered species in the foreseeable future...certainly not within the next 10 years. The best agents will just become better at their jobs and BENEFIT from technolo…
I learned that the good agents DO serve a purpose.
What is that purpose?
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#5Summary of the article: Redfin reimburses 50% of the fee they receive back to the buyer. And Redfin charges the seller a $5,000 - $7,000 flat fee. In contrast when the buyer and the seller of a million dollar house use traditional Realtors, together the Realtors take about $50,000 or $60,000 of the transaction.
Finally, here is a comment from the Techcrunch article:
I was an active Realtor for 8 years and I’m glad to see something like this taking shape. It’s only a matter of time before real estate agents are entirely obsolete, and for good reason. You used to have to go through an agent to get this kind of information on homes; now the general public has access to that same information.
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#6Summary of the article: Redfin reimburses 50% of the fee they receive back to the buyer. And Redfin charges the seller a $5,000 - $7,000 flat fee. In contrast when the buyer and the seller of a million dollar house use traditional Realtors, together the Realtors take about $50,000 or $60,000 of the transaction. Finally, here is a comment from the Techcrunch article: I was an active Realtor for 8 years and I’m glad to…
Realtors in the US/Canada make far too much money on the transactions.
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
EVERY industry needs to evolve along with technology or suffer the consequences. I think there should be far few real estate agents working in the US. And that the level of innovation should dramatically increase. But agents will not become a completely endangered species in the foreseeable future...certainly not within the next 10 years. The best agents will just become better at their jobs and BENEFIT from technolo…
I learned that the good agents DO serve a purpose. What is that purpose?
Two good purposes that they might serve are providing search results you may like that you didn't actually search for (obviously this can be automated to some degree, since Pandora and Netflix try to do it), and reducing transaction costs by vouching for one side or both.
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
EVERY industry needs to evolve along with technology or suffer the consequences. I think there should be far few real estate agents working in the US. And that the level of innovation should dramatically increase. But agents will not become a completely endangered species in the foreseeable future...certainly not within the next 10 years. The best agents will just become better at their jobs and BENEFIT from technolo…
I learned that the good agents DO serve a purpose. What is that purpose?
A GOOD real estate agent performs various professional tasks requiring expertise that save you time and money, protect your interests, and keep you out of trouble, at a cost that is less than doing it yourself. Kind of like a GOOD lawyer (I noticed your JD) or a good accountant. You can do it yourself...just like you can fix your own car or plumbing, but the results may not always be what you intended. It may SEEM like a super simple task until you're knee deep in shit and then you start to appreciate why there are professionals with training who stay up-to-date and have E&O insurance for the field, etc. Specialization is a good thing.
The bar to get a real estate license is lower than getting most other professional licenses, though, so there are many more BAD agents than bad plumbers/accountants/mechanics. I think most real estate agents suck. Just like I think most lawyers suck. It doesn't mean that either shouldn't exist, though.
I've got to go to bed...I'll come back later.
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#9Summary of the article: Redfin reimburses 50% of the fee they receive back to the buyer. And Redfin charges the seller a $5,000 - $7,000 flat fee. In contrast when the buyer and the seller of a million dollar house use traditional Realtors, together the Realtors take about $50,000 or $60,000 of the transaction. Finally, here is a comment from the Techcrunch article: I was an active Realtor for 8 years and I’m glad to…
Realtors in the US/Canada make far too much money on the transactions.
I agree
Re: Redfin Turns Profitable, Real Estate Industry Shudders
#10Summary of the article: Redfin reimburses 50% of the fee they receive back to the buyer. And Redfin charges the seller a $5,000 - $7,000 flat fee. In contrast when the buyer and the seller of a million dollar house use traditional Realtors, together the Realtors take about $50,000 or $60,000 of the transaction. Finally, here is a comment from the Techcrunch article: I was an active Realtor for 8 years and I’m glad to…
Realtors in the US/Canada make far too much money on the transactions.
6% may have made sense when houses cost $25,000. Now that houses cost 10 times as much, do they have 10 times the work on one deal? I didn't think so.