6 ms·
The problem is absolutley that housing is too expensive, which of course a bunch of realtors are not going to point out. Increasing wages will not fix the hous
by WarmWash 5mo ago
The problem is absolutley that housing is too expensive, which of course a bunch of realtors are not going to point out.
Increasing wages will not fix the housing crisis, and will just drive prices higher. How convenient for a bunch of realtors...
- groundzeros2015 5mo agoRealtors don’t own the houses.
- phantom784 5mo agoRealtors earn commissions as a % of the price a house sells for.
- nathan_compton 5mo agoMerch has to move for them to earn a percentage. If prices are systematically too high I would guess liquidity goes down.
- WarmWash 5mo agoNothing a 50 year mortgage can't fix, I'm sure that article will be coming out soon to from our realtor friends.
- adityamwagh 5mo agoIt’s also a diabolical amount. My friend bought a house in San Jose, and both, the buyers and sellers agent got $50,000 each on a $2M house. They didn’t even help with the house search much.
- groundzeros2015 5mo agoWho agreed to those terms?
- cpburns2009 5mo agoThe buyers or sellers. No one is required to use a realtor. They simply provide a convenient service for a fee.
- georgeecollins 5mo agoTell me you have never bought a house in the US without telling me you have never bought a house in the US.
- cpburns2009 5mo agoThat's an odd accusation to make with confidence.
- rpdillon 5mo agoI've bought several houses in the U.S., and the last one I sold, I didn't have a realtor. I'm not sure what point you're making here.
- georgeecollins 4mo agoThat you have bought several houses in the USA makes your experience represent 0.01% of homeowners. Most people in the USA only buy one.
- triceratops 5mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnett_v._National_Association_of_Realtors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnett_v._National_Associatio...
- groundzeros2015 5mo agoThis lawsuit is about realtors acting against your interest (agency problem), and is not about you being forced to pay a particular commission. You can choose your realtor. You can discuss with them. This person just bought a 2m house!
- twiclo 5mo agoThe get a percentage cut of the sale price of a house.
- HumblyTossed 5mo agoNot usually. But homeowners don't usually set the price themselves. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, technically they can. But a _realtor_ is in their ear telling them MORE MORE MORE.
- mlhpdx 5mo agoof course they are. what else could they possibly do? pressure you into selling for a little less? get sued for not getting the seller the best price? also, they don’t get paid if something doesn’t sell for being overpriced. it’s a market system.
- triceratops 5mo ago> get sued for not getting the seller the best price? Are they legally required to do that? How would you even prove it was due to them?
- triceratops 5mo agoActually realtors egg on buyers to offer more more more. And sellers to reduce asking prices. Whatever makes the sale happen quicker.
- TheOtherHobbes 5mo agoI've had "Amazing, yes, no trouble, we'll sell this quickly" followed by "Not moving, try dropping the price by 20%" a month later. Realtors negotiate for themselves, not for either buyers or sellers. I did have one who dropped their commission a little to close a sale, but that's not a common experience. (And they still did very well out of it.)
- SoftTalker 5mo agoA good realtor should help the seller set a realistic price. Because if the house doesn't appraise for the selling price or more, the deal will fall apart before closing.
- jasode 5mo agoThe gp you replied to mentioned "realtors" because this thread's article domain is: realtor.com
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- mlhpdx 5mo agoSupply and demand, supply and demand. It’s not that complicated. I’m not sure how or why this article got published by an organization that should, given its very nature, understand economics. The article doesn’t paint them or their members as people I’d trust in either side of a major financial transaction.
- botanrice 5mo agohave you met a realtor? They can be some great people but as a profession they are known more for their extroversion and soft skills than their high IQ understanding of economics lol
- debo_ 5mo agoIt also depends on how hot the housing market is at any given time. Often time a realtor is just someone who decided everything else was too much work. (My whole family has been in the business for almost 70 years, both commercial and residential.)
- SoftTalker 5mo agoI'm sure some do more, but my personal experience on the sales side is that realtors do nothing except serve as gatekeepers to get your house listed in the local MLS. Then they show up at closing to collect their commission. On the buying side, they do more such as drive prospective buyers around to look at houses, though it's been long enough since I bought a house that I don't know how much virtual tours have replaced this. Either way, it's not what I'd call difficult work.
- pc86 5mo agoIt is "work" in the sense that you can be busy doing things. Nothing is difficult by any reasonable sense of the word. All the realtors I know who are actually successful are constantly busy, constantly taking phone calls or responding to texts, there's very little downtime. I'm sure there's some nuance to it, and it probably helps to be in the business for a long time, but it's a backup job for 99% of people for a reason. I've bought and sold a handful of properties in a couple states through my life and have dealt with probably 2 dozen realtors in some professional capacity, and only 1 has been what I would call "good" and that was basically just him giving us insight into the market, being willing to tell us not to buy a house because it wouldn't fit our needs 5 years in the future, etc. Basically just willing to sacrifice a faster or larger commission to get us what we wanted rather than just closing a deal ASAP, which IMO should be the minimum and not the mark of a "good" realtor.
- shlant 5mo ago> Increasing wages will not fix the housing crisis, and will just drive prices higher. This is true though?
- throwaway041207 5mo agoIn my neck of the woods (New England), home prices have doubled since March of 2020. I have yet to read a comprehensive overview of how this happened and how we get out of it. Of course, people went nuts offering over the asking price when interest rates were super low so I understand, to some degree, that baselines were reset. But the current housing market doesn't feel sustainable. I don't understand how a proper middle class family could afford to buy in this environment, unless they are willing to put off any savings indefinitely.
- anthonypasq 5mo agocovid was the largest money printing and wealth transfer event in history. When rich people get money they buy assets. We have had extreme asset inflation since then. Metals, equities, real estate etc. Watch Gary's Economics on youtube. We get out of it by building more, read Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Its extremely simple.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- lifestyleguru 5mo agoThere is one hackish solution though. Unilaterally implode the real estate prices worldwide. People were so busy stealing covid money that they simply dumped the loot into real estate. This will not trickle it down (nothing ever trickles down), but at least would evaporate it.
- amazingamazing 5mo agoIt is very simple. Housing is not built.
- pc86 5mo agoThis is at least 80% of the problem. The system is behaving exactly as you'd expect it to with even an Econ 102-level understanding. New supply isn't being built, or is being severely hamstrung, and more people want the supply and are willing to sacrifice (often too much) to get it. Add in rent-seeking behavior, both figuratively and literally, and prices quickly double in even mediocre areas with minimal long-term prospects for growth. Relaxed zoning requirements for SFH and MFH buildings, relaxed or eliminated height restrictions for high rise density projects in urban areas, eliminating rent control, and a laundry list of other things would help alleviate the upward pressure.
- pj_mukh 5mo agoYea, "We currently have 10 houses renting at $2500 for 15 people who have $2000 to spend on rent. WHAT IF, we gave those 15 people $2500 instead. Housing crisis solved?" -This article...basically.
- vladimirralev 5mo agoYes, might as well just give those $2500 to the landlords directly and skip the middle-man. It reads like a joke.
- jader201 5mo agoOf all the jobs to get replaced by AI, I would be happy to see realtors to be first in line (but I also think this is wishful thinking). I feel like I get very little value out of what seems to be a mostly fixed/required price. I know flat fee realtors exist, and if/when we sell our home, I’ll be looking into this heavily. But I feel like they rank up there with car salespeople/dealers.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- sdenton4 5mo agoHere's a recent nytimes article in a quote positive experience using ai in place of a realtor: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/technology/sell-house-with-ai-no-realtor.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rFA.2Hx-.09JnJdmHFRi3&smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/technology/sell-house-wit...
- runako 5mo ago> All three bidders waived inspection and appraisal, and they all had healthy financing > I was transacting in a thriving market, with no special circumstances Yeah, a hot real estate market is where a seller is likely to derive the least benefit. Although a talented agent in a hot market can drive a more competitive process, potentially generating higher offers. All of which is, to the author's credit, highlighted in the article. Agents earn their keep in more normal/weak markets.
- daveguy 5mo agoRealtors are experts in the market. A good realtor pays for themselves by getting you the best selling price or finding the best home for your price range. If you don't understand opportunity cost, then obviously it appears to be a ripoff. But once you understand, it's clear that realtors have value. And realtors are probably going to be the last to be replaced with AI. It's all about value judgement and AI is garbage at judgement. Also, it's true this article isn't recognizing the root cause, overpriced housing, because realtors in general do better when prices are high. But "realtors in general" is a very different category than "your realtor".
- flerchin 5mo agoBuild baby build. It's the only way.
- sys_64738 5mo agoIs it the case that housing was previously just very cheap and this is the normal price?
- pc86 5mo agoWhat's your definition of normal? 300 years ago you'd just set up on a chunk of land and build your own house. I'm not saying that's preferable to today but the actual financial cost was comparatively extremely little. I bet there is a middle ground where we could relax or eliminate a lot of building restrictions and NIMBY policies to ease the upward pressure or even exert some downward pressure on home prices. We're also fighting against 6-7% interest rates after an extensive period of 2-3%.
- raybb 5mo agoVicious cycle. There was a story yesterday about a couple's rent going up 70% after they told the landlord they were having a baby around the same time the lease was up for renewal. https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/17/san-francisco-marina-landlord-rent-hike-lawsuit/ https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/17/san-francisco-marina-landl...
- tancop 5mo agoincreasing wages will fix part of the inequality crisis because as you go up from working class to billionaires you get less income from wages and more from capital gains. if you raise wages that changes the distribution to be more equal and thats a good thing. but i agree it wont solve housing by itself. for housing we need to replace zoning rules with a neighbor vote, put the community back in control instead of bureaucrats who block new apartments for dumb reasons or take bribes from developers to build luxury investment properties nobody wants. there should also probably be an escape hatch where anyone can build affordable/rent controlled apts without a vote but only if the location has high enough average rent. that would help balance out inequalities and break up exclusive rich neighborhoods, maybe even help against racism. the other side is lower costs with less paperwork (removing zoning makes a big difference) and enforcing competition in the home building industry. make it easier to start a new business and break up corporate monopolies. create a safe path for undocumented immigrants to legalize themselves so they can have labor rights, make legal immigration cheaper and more predictable.
- cpburns2009 5mo agoThese are diametrically opposed: > for housing we need to replace zoning rules with a neighbor vote, put the community back in control instead of bureaucrats who block new apartments for dumb reasons or take bribes from developers to build luxury investment properties nobody wants. > there should also probably be an escape hatch where anyone can build affordable/rent controlled apts without a vote but only if the location has high enough average rent.
- danaris 5mo agoI don't think you're wrong; however, multiple things can be true at the same time. In this case, housing prices are ridiculously high, and wages are ridiculously low, if you compare both to the overall cost of living excluding housing.