As of August 17, 2024, buyers must enter a written agreement with real estate professionals before viewing properties. Differences exist in services, training, experience, and resources among agents. It’s essential for buyers to understand these differences to make informed choices.
The evolving show-for-free and show-for-fee business models in real estate prioritize profit over consumer education, leading to potential exploitation and undermining the essential advisory role of real estate agents and brokers.
Robert Refkin inaccurately criticizes the Clear Cooperation Rule as violating the National Association of REALTORS Code of Ethics and state laws. Despite his objections, the rule is pro-consumer, fostering competition and better market exposure. The arguments against it are flawed and often disregard the broader benefits to both buyers and sellers.
Critics argue real estate agents are overpaid due to generous commissions. However, agents earn through success-based fees, providing extensive unpaid services if transactions fail. Unlike other professionals, agents only earn upon successful deals. Switching to fee-based models could increase costs and risks for consumers without providing the safeguards licensed agents offer, ultimately being costlier.
The NAR settlement has sparked debate over the real estate industry’s future without affecting cooperative compensation or making commissions negotiable, as they have always been. Concerns about increased cash needed for buyers are raised, but home values remain driven by market forces, not agent fees. Nonetheless, realtors remain dedicated to serving clients ethically and professionally in achieving homeownership.
Recently Brad Iman asked Laurie Weston Davis and I to participate in one of the “Provoke” panels at Inman Connect San Francisco. There was some confusion about what we meant by what we said- and this is where I’m going to clear that up!
Companies backed by VC money keep trying to re-invent the real estate industry. Some do little more than raise money and lower the bar, trying to reap profits for the creators. Here is the story of one of them.
Maybe it’s the summer heat, but after reading a recent article on Inman.com entitled “Let’s get rid of the MLS”, I just felt like hitting my head against the wall to relieve the frustration the article generated. – Here’s my response
You can tell that the real estate market is recovering because new business models spring up to take advantage of the growing market. We see more articles about “disruptive” business models, and people outside the industry come up with “new” technology offerings to solve problems they perceive exist in the real estate process. Haus.com is just the latest.
In a recent article on Inman Select, there was an article entitled “Could real estate teams solve the agent quality problem?”, an interesting question, but one that is based on a misunderstanding of what real estate teams are, what they aren’t, and why they exist.