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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Think4Yourself who wrote (77970)	5/22/2007 8:59:38 AM
From: Tradelite	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

<<The sites share a common national database they maintain, possibly by subsidizing an independant company whose sole purpose is to keep the system current and accurate (no more incompetent agent entries listing a house for thirty five cents). If you want to FSBO you contract directly with the database maintainer.>> Who, exactly, is going to pay for all this wonderfulness? Who is going to hold the enforcement authority over agents to keep listings up to date and accurate? Who is going to make sure FSBO sellers don't enter a bunch of bogus BS about their existing overdue loans, leaky plumbing, old roof and smelly basement? Also, anyone inclined to become a FSBO to save commission money is not likely to pay the high fees that would no doubt be required to place a home listing into the system you described and derive the "services" that you say will be made available to them. Meanwhile, which states are going to be the first in line to change their laws and do away with the agent/client relationship in which the seller has the right to have his own agent negotiating for him and the buyer has the right to his own agent negotiating for him. (What type of mindless buyers and sellers would go for this arrangement, anyway???) This "duplication of agents" that you seem to dismiss as unnecessary is actually the legal foundation for the fiduciary obligations that agents have to their clients in a transaction: confidentiality, loyalty, obedience, full disclosure, diligence, duty to account for all money, including safe handling of escrow deposits. So who is the buyer or seller going to sue when he's not treated right under the system you describe? All in all, I'd say whoever dreamed up that system has no clue what a multiple listing system is, how it works, why it works and how much it costs to operate. Probably never bought a house, either, and thinks it's all a matter of paperwork. As for your reference to incompetent agents entering listings for 35 cents (I've never seen this, by the way)........well.......any agent who screws up like that will have the listing corrected in about two minutes when the MLS powers-that-be or competitors or his/her office manager spot the error. Agents rat out other agents for all kinds of things, including putting anything stupid in the MLS.

To: Think4Yourself who wrote (77970)	5/22/2007 11:24:11 AM
From: bobby is sleepless in seattle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

<I am seeing a potential shift from realtor offices all over the country to a more central online system> Is it possible that what you are seeing are more choices. Some of the big boys have subsidiaries which deal with discount brokerages (coldwell banker) while others have really tried to become efficient with online (ziprealty) services. Some people prefer to shop at Walmart while others will choose Nordstrom... I know zip well and its infrastructure. The model has evolved into more of a hybrib online/traditional services. They know it just does not work without the human element. It is a must to have a broker in each state to conduct busisness. Some of these small outfits have dingbat brokers who don't have a clue. But then again, who said one has to be a genius... <The company pays the agent, does most of the paperwork, sends out the appraiser, etc. All the local real estate agencies with their cuts are gone, as is the duplication of agents on both sides.> employee versus indep. agent...You've decribed zip to an extent, they went public for more funding (you will notice the powers that be that took them public are no longer there. They conveniently left after cashig in) and the commission sructure changed dramatically. The number of agents they have is remarkably high, but the cost per agent has exploded. The beauty of working with these types of companies is no prospecting... controlling appraisers? nope, won't happen. The appraiser works for the bank/lender. <The sites share a common national database they maintain There are several tiers of service offered depending on your experience, from someone simply showing you the house to someone who walks you through every step of the process. Typically user would be assigned a local real estate agent who shows them the home, and maybe some similar homes in the area.> In a way, it has been done. A National database service is available via Homes.com, Realtor.com, plus a bunch of others. They are there as a service to help the buyer, seller, and broker, but not to replace the broker. Even these services are not efficient. It is being challenged today and stands to being fragmented. In other words, not all homes available for sale will be published. In the past, the feeds were picked up directly via a relationship with local database services. That realtionship may be disappearing quickly. The shift is on to place the burden on the shoulders of the individual agent at another cost to each of the national services. And how many are willing to do it, especially in a slow market! And look at the information available. Very limited and certainly not enough to make a investment decision without further due diligence. How bout another way where it is done? We've seen those ads asking us "what's your home worth" (housevalues.com)? These folks are then referred to agents how pay for the privilege of a lead. It is not cheap and with a ton of holes in em... I understand what you're saying, it can be done, but it will be very expensive. Banks want to sell homes, right? <When you go to buy a used car do you deal with two salesmen and two dealerships? A car is much more complex than a house, and there are easily just as many things that can be wrong with it.> Depends, the last one was via auction and one person that I fully trust. Other times, it's a mulitutde of lots and salesman. A car may be more complex to some, but to others, it may be a house. And what about those living in the New York Cities having no need for a car...:) Still, I don't see the parallel. The emotional and financial commitment is far different between the two. <The full commission stock brokers thought the same thing 15 years ago. They have also gone the way of the dinosaur> ahh, but brokers still exist, not near as b4, as financial consultants and there is a need for those that feel they need the help. And again, we are dealing with a different animal here. Electronic trading versus a home sell. When was the last time any of us went to a board meeting, visited the headquarters of msft, became intimate with its infrastructure prior to a transaction? And yes, homes are sold sight unseen other than pictures, but that happens to be the minority, a very small minority. Take out flippers, and it gets smaller. Selling fsbo is a whole bunch easier when the market is hot. Setting up shop is a whole bunch eaiser when the market is hot. And when it's not?