Inode, I think residential real estate sales as a business is being threatened by the Internet. Because the MLS is all you're paying for anyway, in most cases. And you don't need humans for that. For something as huge as buying a home, I think it's kind of naive to assume that you can "do it yourself" via MLS.
Here in the Bay Area, for instance, you see a home you like going for, say, $700K in South San Jose. You go and make an offer, only to find that you're competing against 9 other offers. The seller counters with a higher asking price.
Now what? You going to compete with the other potential buyers, some of whom are Chinese and can pay 100% of the asking price with cash, without help?
Or let's say you're the seller in this case. You can either just sell your home by yourself or with a discount agent and make a handsome profit on the craziness of the market itself. Or you can hire a good agent who will stage the home for you, present it in the best possible way, deal with the buyers and their demands, and come up with a good "no contingency" offer for top dollar.
It's like representing yourself in a lawsuit. If you can do it, you might as well become a real estate agent yourself.
Tenchusatsu |
