Real Estate and the process by which ownership is transferred is always changing. Some changes are welcome in terms of how they benefit individuals in the process of making transactions and others are not. Many forces are coming together to effect change in the real estate marketplace. For example a recent entre of Zillow.com has caused a lot of fear in to the Real estate industry, who is rubing scarred the real estate agent or broker? What is the difference, and ultimately the home buyers and sellers will win, consumers always come first in my book!
In a general sense the system of Real estate agents and Multiple Listing Services or
"MLS's" in the United States have created a relatively stable and liquid
market. This supports the buying and selling of Real Estate, which is a very comlicated process. In the internet age, and in a time of rapid value increases, the realtors and MLS's are having to re-adjust.
Any market needs stability in order that the buyers and sellers have an expectation of value when engaging or contemplating engaging a transaction, especially a comlicated transaction such as real estate wher land and homes come together. We will undoubtedly see many challenges to property
value evaluations across the U.S. in markets where values have changed
dramatically. St a national and local level, we should look carefully when considering radical changes to a system that has worked well considering the volume of transactions and the
changes in marketplace.
I am sure an Economic professor at a prestigious
University can find statistical significant variances in the pricing that Real Estate agents sell their own properties at and those of there clients and this is
worthy of review. And Business week had an article on that subject just a few years ago. While the survey found that real estate agents sell there homes for more, they even listed their homes through mLS and paid commissions to buyers agents, why? Because the system is very large pool of buyers and by most accounts properly supports the participants interests. And allows them the options to make their own decisions about how they wish to engage a real estate agent, it all comes down to supply and demand. And currently, the legal rules and regulations protect all parties, as real property laws need to.
Having been involved as a Real Estate, after being involved as a home buyer, and as a high tech executive, in transactions representing both parties, the home buyers and sellers, has allowed us to come to understand the affect an experienced third party can have in situations. The value of the real estate agent is significant where emotions and personal issues can play significant roles in the completion of a transaction, which all parties wish to complete. The real estate agent in many cases uses experienced gained in many transactions to overcome objections, emotional issues and personalities that would easily end many sale. Two properly trained real estate agents knowing the rules, laws, and focusing on the
intent of their clients can and does make a huge difference. The actions result in the best interest of their clients to achieve as much of a win-win situation as possible and still get the job done. This assumes that the real estate agent knows the rules and real estate laws as they should. And by completely
Understanding the ramifications of the contract and how it is written, interpreted, utilizes significant expertise.
Without real estate agents, the public would be left to use real estate attornies, and we know what people think of that industry. It's no wonder the real estate industry, has a bad name, we also have to watch our sales nature. That then comes to the rules of contractual engagement ie. Seattle Northwest MLS's Form 21, and other forms like that have evolved and continue to evolve to create a place where two parties can meet and complete a complicated transaction economically. Standardizing, while respecting the wishes of both parties without the legal cost of writing up a new contract every time a real estate property is sold. It's not only the money, but think of how slow the process would be to but a agome or sell a home, whithout standardi?tipb, and common language? Ouch, it hurts my head thinking about it, did I tell you before real estate, I had 3 A's in law classes, and I come dem a long line of lawyers. That is one profession, we have to appreciate and avoid as often as we can!
There are many advantages to the current real estate buying and selling systems, next time we will continue to review the process its advantages, perceived disadvantages, the outside pressures that wish to change its structure. Competition is good, always good to allow for the changes in the market place.
But will the real estate landscape change enough to allow the dismantling of the Realtor or Agent laws to help people or will the same thing that happenned to people in the discount brokerages that they lost a ton of money? From my biased point of view, I hope that people don't stop listening to real estate agents. That means people should always get an opinion or two at least, maybe three ?
Most of them really do care for the clients and add significant value, without them, I think the average home buyer or seller would loose a lot of money! So being a smart home buyer or seller is just being smart, but with a lot more money to gain, think throug your choices, and use your insights, and get more than one opinion!
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