The New Role of Real Estate Agents and Home Owners

Home owners will use online services to set their price and online home marketing sites to market it. Real estate professionals will get paid if they bring a buyer, but their services will not be required for listing the home.

That’s what an article at CNN titled, “a new reality for real estate agents,” is suggesting for the future. There is really nothing new in the article, but what is being said is important. The basis of the story is that services such as zillow.com and others that estimate home values, and sites such as forsalebyowner.com allow home owners to determine the value and market their homes themselves.

“Real estate information wants to be free,” says Stephen Gandel the author of the article. He states that what has happened with stock brokerages and the impact to their fees will happen to the traditional fee structure in real estate. The “traditional” 6 percent brokerage listing fees may be gone before long. Agents will be relegated to bringing buyers to the sellers.

Can It Work? Can You Sell Your Own Home?

So, can it work? Can you set your own price and sell your own home? Sure, it can work and has worked well for a good number of people. People who are comfortable selling, answering calls, returning calls, negotiating, showing their homes and hearing about all the flaws of their homes. I am all for informed clients. Informed clients are much easier to work with. I would love to meet with a client and pull out a magic machine where we put in the home’s address and out pops the exact value of the home. No arguments, just the exact value. Set the price and buyers know that’s what it’s worth. No negotiation, no haggling. Whoa, Not yet.

First, the services such as zillow.com are not accurate enough yet to give a good estimate. They are relying on historical data. As long as the market is not changing, these estimates will be good. But if the markets not changing, everybody in the neighborhood pretty much knows what homes are worth. When the services can adjust rapidly to changing markets, and give accurate estimates in near real-time, there will be tremendous value.

Second, there a truism that all real estate is local. National services may struggle with local markets, especially markets that change rapidly. They must be able to factor in local economic, cultural and political conditions. That’s a pretty tough job. How would a national service deal with the political battle like we had recently in Ormond Beach, Florida to restrict new Ormond Beach Condos to no more than 75 feet or 7 stories (it passed). That political change altered the value of property. Business development increases demand for homes, will smaller markets be worth the cost for national services to sift through and quantify all that data?

Third, stocks are traded regularly by a lot of people. People can become very good at knowing how to evaluate and buy and sell stocks. They learn through mistakes and repetition. How many times will you sell your home and can you really afford to make any mistakes with your biggest asset?

The Real Estate Information Explosion is Good

The more information you have, the better you’re prepared to deal with real estate agents and buying or selling a home. Sales happen when buyers and sellers are in agreement on price and other terms. If more reliable information is available, homes can be priced right and buyers will be more likely to agree on value. The information will get better, especially in big markets where the market size will permit the needed level of investment to get it right. I’m not sure smaller markets, like the Daytona Beach Homes market will be economically viable for the needed level of investment. Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and such with their millions in population are much more likely to see increasing home valuation services and alternative marketing outlets.

Your Choice - Become Your Own Real Estate Agent

Some people are interested in selling their own home. If this is you, go for it. Check out the options, and give it a try. Check out what’s available online and find people who have sold their own homes and talk to them. Decide if you are going to pay real estate agents a commission if they bring you a buyer, and if so, how much. Of course, the more you offer in commission, the more motivated agents is to show your home before others.

My only advice is to protect yourself. Take some of the money you save in commissions and hire a good real estate attorney to draw up the contracts and represent you at the closing. You’ll feel a lot more comfortable.

Technorati Tags Daytona Beach Homes, For Sale By Owner, Ormond Beach Condos, Sell Your Own Home

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