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I used to work in the real estate tech industry. The vast majority of companies in that space view brokerages as their primary revenue source and develop softwa
by metaphorm 9y ago
I used to work in the real estate tech industry. The vast majority of companies in that space view brokerages as their primary revenue source and develop software designed to give brokers more structural advantages to extract middle-man profits from renters and buyers. Zillow is the largest and most successful RE tech co to pursue that business model but they aren't alone.
Redfin is attempting a different business model that is in many ways hostile to brokerages. This is political stuff, basically. Changes to the relationship between landlords/sellers, brokers, and renters/buyers will have very large scale economic consequences and also likely result in long term changes to the way neighborhoods are constituted and populated.
- nambit 9y agoIt won't affect the market too much if brokers are taken out of the equation. Most people only use brokers nowadays (at least in the bigger cities) for paperwork.
- taobility 9y agoyeah, for me, I prepared all the staff by myself when trying to buy a property. I just need an agent to make the offer, but I don't think that work worth 3% of the price
- mtanski 9y agoMy lawyer (required by law in NY) did a lot more work for a small fixed fee then my real estate agent. If I'm buying another place in the future, I'm skipping a buyers agent and using the same lawyer. On the sales side I'd still consider using one due to them arranging pictures, running open houses, following up with buyers. Depending on difficulty of sale / commission structure it's worth it.
- feistypharit 9y agoBe aware that the way most seller's agent contracts are written, if the buyer has no agent, then the seller agents gets both (e.g. 6%). The reason is, they technically transfer the full commission for both agents to the sellers firm, then they kick back half to the buyer agent. It's hard to avoid paying agents when buying a house.
- mtanski 9y agoI'm aware of the fact, but almost most sellers agents rather get 4% or 4.5% rather then 3% (which is what happens when there is a buyers agent).