the real estate business is huge. it is the largest business in the world. billions of dollars change hands every day in real estate transactions, every day.
What about the food industry? Literally billions of people buy or sell food every single day! Or how about the banking industry...the industry that finances the real estate industry.
These are just a couple examples I made up. What I want to know is did you make up your statement as well, or is it actually legitimate? I would be interested to see the source if it is true, because that would be striking.
More like "Google listing service". Reach millions of people for a fraction of the cost of the MLS. Also the integration with Google Maps / Streetview would be kickass. I've actually seen a few websites that use Google Maps API in conjunction with listings scraped off of Craig's List. Not scientific or always accurate but still pretty cool to play around with.
David, I know that it must be scary to know that your job and business model is going the way of the dodo as people become more educated about the process and are not constrained by lack of information. You shouldn't be concerned, though, because you and I both know that real estate always goes up! Or maybe it's the old saying.....there's a sucker born every minute?
LOL. LA LA LA LA LAND.
Regulatory approvals will not come in quick for google anytime soon to list ANYTHING.
BTW Redfin is barely scraping on the tip of the "grey" area of the law, and department of licensing. Has already been fined $50k by NWMLS and not once but twice.
LOL. LA LA LA LA LAND.
Regulatory approvals will not come in quick for google anytime soon to list ANYTHING.
You don't need any regulatory approval to list your home for sale and Google, or anyone else (for instance, Craigslist) doesn't need anybody's approval to create a database of homes for sale.
You're probably thinking that Google would mirror the NWMLS like Redfin, but what people are talking about is Google (or somebody else) completely bypassing anything maintained or controlled by NAR or any existing real estate group in order to eliminate their monopoly on real estate listings. That way if you wanted to buy or sell real estate you would never ever have to deal with any realtor or anything controlled by realtors making realtors superfluous and obsolete.
As more and more tech companies with real innovation move into the real estate space and more and more buyers and sellers turn to these companies to cut transaction costs I can look forward to easily buying a house in 5 or so years without an agent.
web 2.0, transparency are now real estate terms. of course real estate agents and real estate companies want you to shop on line. of course real estate companies want you to do the "leg" work.
the search for properties on-line is a real estate industry technology. who do you think pays? you? is the consumer paying for internet property search technology?
no, real estate companies, builders, realtor.com, and in this area John L Scott.
real estate agents blogging for lead generation is still a tough way to make a buck.
My contemporaries are building town houses. that's were the money is. selling a $350K housing unit for $500K, that's the money.
who would pay $500K for a crappy housing unit that is economically obsolete from the moment the new owner moves in? people researching on-line for the best deal on town houses.
real estate companies would love to get rid of real estate agents. if they can put up a web site for $120K and generate a million dollars in business what do they need with real estate agents?
filling out the paper work costs $500 in clerical work, from start to finish. redfin is charging a 1% commission for that $500 worth of work, but wait there's more.
there are ad dollars, redirected links, personal information for future targeting, and the data that has it's own value.
no, the agents who are trawling for commission dollars are the weakest link. the money is in building the site for the people to come to.
there is a sucker born every minute and today they are leveraging themselves into between a quarter to half million dollar real estate transaction using information they get from real estate companies who are selling a product on-line.
You're probably thinking that Google would mirror the NWMLS like Redfin, but what people are talking about is Google (or somebody else) completely bypassing anything maintained or controlled by NAR or any existing real estate group in order to eliminate their monopoly on real estate listings. That way if you wanted to buy or sell real estate you would never ever have to deal with any realtor or anything controlled by realtors making realtors superfluous and obsolete.
You don't need any regulatory approval to list your home for sale and Google, or anyone else (for instance, Craigslist) doesn't need anybody's approval to create a database of homes for sale.
You're probably thinking that Google would mirror the NWMLS like Redfin, but what people are talking about is Google (or somebody else) completely bypassing anything maintained or controlled by NAR or any existing real estate group in order to eliminate their monopoly on real estate listings. That way if you wanted to buy or sell real estate you would never ever have to deal with any realtor or anything controlled by realtors making realtors superfluous and obsolete.
As more and more tech companies with real innovation move into the real estate space and more and more buyers and sellers turn to these companies to cut transaction costs I can look forward to easily buying a house in 5 or so years without an agent.
You are quite sure of yourself on those plus points of redfin, google, and whatever other company taking care of selling 1% of the homes that their like is managing to sell at the moment.
Real estate buying and selling is a liability, there is insurance, then there is such thing as lawsuits. Agents who are worth their salt which is 25% of the whole realtore forc, will protect their client because that is their reputation on the line, and they earn what they get paid.
Plenty of buyers in Seattle who are in the market of $800k+ homes will never venture out without an agent, and use a company that only undercuts their own service.
Redfin or any other outfit that decides to get into this business and write contracts on behalf of buyers, sellers, will sooner or later face litigation over transactions. Then we will see how they handle and protect their client for $500.
The number of agents however will decline over future as buyers get more savvy with what services they need.
You are quite sure of yourself on those plus points of redfin, google, and whatever other company taking care of selling 1% of the homes that their like is managing to sell at the moment.
What "plus points" are you talking about that I'm "quite sure of"? I'm don't know what sort of transaction volume Redfin and the like have (and you seem to have no idea either) but just because it is small right now doesn't mean it'll be small forever. Just think of how small the transaction volume was at expedia back in 1999. I guess that means internet vaction booking never took off.
Real estate buying and selling is a liability, there is insurance, then there is such thing as lawsuits. Agents who are worth their salt which is 25% of the whole realtore forc, will protect their client because that is their reputation on the line, and they earn what they get paid.
Plenty of buyers in Seattle who are in the market of $800k+ homes will never venture out without an agent, and use a company that only undercuts their own service.
Redfin or any other outfit that decides to get into this business and write contracts on behalf of buyers, sellers, will sooner or later face litigation over transactions. Then we will see how they handle and protect their client for $500.
The number of agents however will decline over future as buyers get more savvy with what services they need.
What does any of this have to do with a company creating real estate listing service apart from the MLS? Whoever creates this service wouldn't necesarily have to write contracts and do transactions (like Redfin). It's just a listing service. A database with a fancy web-based front end that isn't controlled by realtors. If realtors are getting sued left and right then it is due to their own incompetence and has no bearing on the actual databases that the real estate was listed on.
Also, what about that regulatory approval you talked about earlier? You still haven't said what kind of approval someone needs to create an online database of real estate listings.
You are quite sure of yourself on those plus points of redfin, google, and whatever other company taking care of selling 1% of the homes that their like is managing to sell at the moment.
What "plus points" are you talking about that I'm "quite sure of"? I'm don't know what sort of transaction volume Redfin and the like have (and you seem to have no idea either) but just because it is small right now doesn't mean it'll be small forever. Just think of how small the transaction volume was at expedia back in 1999. I guess that means internet vaction booking never took off.
Real estate buying and selling is a liability, there is insurance, then there is such thing as lawsuits. Agents who are worth their salt which is 25% of the whole realtore forc, will protect their client because that is their reputation on the line, and they earn what they get paid.
Plenty of buyers in Seattle who are in the market of $800k+ homes will never venture out without an agent, and use a company that only undercuts their own service.
Redfin or any other outfit that decides to get into this business and write contracts on behalf of buyers, sellers, will sooner or later face litigation over transactions. Then we will see how they handle and protect their client for $500.
The number of agents however will decline over future as buyers get more savvy with what services they need.
What does any of this have to do with a company creating real estate listing service apart from the MLS? Whoever creates this service wouldn't necesarily have to write contracts and do transactions (like Redfin). It's just a listing service. A database with a fancy web-based front end that isn't controlled by realtors. If realtors are getting sued left and right then it is due to their own incompetence and has no bearing on the actual databases that the real estate was listed on.
Also, what about that regulatory approval you talked about earlier? You still haven't said what kind of approval someone needs to create an online database of real estate listings.
I was referring to redfin being a NWMLS feed service under a brokerage which is regulated by laws.
If we are talking about the creation of listing services out there from google or any other company perspective that would be a monumental undertaking and not a $120k website such as what someone referred to it above. It would be more like a closer to a billion dollar venture, to first of all make the system, then get the majority of the people to actually want to use it.
If you are a normal professional or normally employed person to list a home on FSBO makes sense when you are in an area where things sell very quickly.
If you list a home on google, how many people do you have to arrange showings with? Are they screened as being actual buyers or have other motives? Are you going to have time out of your schedule to take them through your house?
And even then they can come back with an offer written by an agent.
"These are just a couple examples I made up. What I want to know is did you make up your statement as well, or is it actually legitimate? I would be interested to see the source if it is true, because that would be striking."
Let's start with:
Global investment volumes in commercial property (excluding multifamily investment property) rose by 33% last year to reach a record US$645bn (€492bn) according to new report published by global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield.
All regions saw a strong uplift in activity, with the real push coming from Europe and Asia, up 50% and 48% respectively. With investment volumes of US$249bn (€191bn), the US accounted for 39% of global activity down from 46% in 2005. Europe increased its share from 41% to 46% and Asia from 13% to 15%.
Now let's look at expedia for dollar volume:
NEW YORK, Feb 16, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI) reported fourth quarter results today. Revenue totaled $1.7 billion, up 9% on a comparable net basis.
the report goes on to list the losses of expedia.
expedia was the brain child of the air lines who wanted to by pass the travel agents who were hindering the over booking, increased sales prices, and preference of one air line over the other.
we now have lots of choices of air lines that are going broke. it's a deregulated free for all of higher air fares, less service, and absolutely no accountability for air lines behaviour. you can check the internet for Angie's list comments on any air line.
the problem with the internet checks and balance system is that air lines hire people to put in positive comments to the internet each day.
The idea of a national data base of homes listed for sale is being pushed by a wide variety of real estate hucksters, swindlers, and con people across the United States. These people would like nothing more than to get you into a world they created. It would leave you turning to them to "help" you out for a cheap fee.
remember the good business saying: " we do it by volume."
Are they screened as being actual buyers or have other motives?
How does listing your house on a different service affecte being able to tell someone's true motives? If you list on the MLS and someone wants to see the house are they screened or do they have other motives? And don't say you know they're honest if they have a realtor because everyone know that realtors are no better than the general public.
Are you going to have time out of your schedule to take them through your house?
Are you going to have the equity to give up 6% of the selling price? See, if you have a more open listing service this is the choice you get to make. Do I want to pay 6% or do I want to spend some of my time doing it myself. With the MLS you have no choice.
And even then they can come back with an offer written by an agent.
That's the great thing about it. It doesn't preclude the use of realtors. It gives you the options to not use a realtor. So you would have choices rather than being locked into doing things the realtors' way.
About it costing a lot of money to make such a database. I think it would be fantastically cheap to make it. The mapping technology already exists. Big companies like google and ms already have huge database centers that they can easily leverage and there are already people that have done quick projects mashing up craigslist with maps and that certainly didn't cost a billion dollars. It would however be expensive to market it and get people to use it. A billion dollars though? I don't think so. People are already attracted to the rich set of features that sites like redfin have. And with with prices crashing everywhere more people are going fsbo to reduce transaction costs. The industry is already starting to gravitate towards a more open database. I bet by the time I want to buy a house fsbo will be widespread even without a major company like google making an MLS competitor.
Perfectfire.
A normal realtor who knows his job, will screen his clients in the office, prequalify.
As far as FSBO being wide spread, it will be very widespread when there is a ton of buyers and no houses, and you can drive through the neighbourhood that you like and see a FSBO. Other then that FSBO is 4%-5% of the market at best.
Its an analogy of desktop linux trying to catch up with desktop windows. LOL
Perfectfire.
A normal realtor who knows his job, will screen his clients in the office, prequalify.
But you don't know if the realtor did this. And you don't know if the clients didn't just lie to the realtor. And you don't know if the realtors themselves are honest. So a prospective buyer that happens to have a realtor doesn't necessarily make them any more serious than a buyer without a realtor. Realtors wish that every buyer without a realtor was a dishonest fraudster so that they could force everyone to get a realtor in order to do any real estate transaction, but in reality that just isn't the case.
As far as FSBO being wide spread, it will be very widespread when there is a ton of buyers and no houses, and you can drive through the neighbourhood that you like and see a FSBO.
This sentence doesn't even make sense. So FSBO will be widespread when there are no houses, but you can drive through any neighborhood and see lots of FSBO houses? That's contradictory. Which is it? No houses or tons of FSBO houses?
Other then that FSBO is 4%-5% of the market at best.
Its an analogy of desktop linux trying to catch up with desktop windows. LOL
I've already addressed this, but I guess it didn't sink in. Small now doesn't necessarily mean small forever. It'll be a difficult battle for sure as realtors like you fight tooth and nail to preserve their monopoly on real estate transactions via the MLS. But I'd argue that we've never had a better chance to win the battle what with internet technology the way it is, people trying to save money in a declining market and a general level of distrust that the NAR has built up during the bubble years.
And a more open real estate for sale database wouldn't have to result in the death of the realtor profession. It'll just mean realtors will have actual honest to goodness competition and will really have to show that they've earned their 6%.
i'm sorry my comment got lost, but this thread is sounding a lot like the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. "if only we had the leads we could do some business."
i've written deals on cocktail napkins and closed them. you don't need a real estate agent, attorney, rdfn, or the pepper. in the State of Washington it's all done by Agreement. we don't have real estate contracts.
if you want a good deal do what a competent real estate agent does and get in your car, walk a neighborhood, pass out flyers, or look for that fsbo on craigslist, Little Nickle, and sign on the street.
there's no money for a national housing data base. where's the profit? the real estate industry is the real estate industry. questioning the dollar amount isn't going anywhere.
MacDonalds, Sears, Boeings, Microsoft, or Wal Mart are all in the real estate business. they buy land, develop it, then move on to the next piece.
have you seen the Microsoft campus? i saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. holy crap! doesn't that Paul Allen guy own some dirt in down town Seattle. didn't they sell some stock to make those purchases?
kidding aside, i'm commenting because i was told i had to blog for business. in my adventure's i came across this site. this tim guy has built a community of more than about six people talking to each other, like the real estate blogs do.
Are they screened as being actual buyers or have other motives?
How does listing your house on a different service affecte being able to tell someone's true motives? If you list on the MLS and someone wants to see the house are they screened or do they have other motives? And don't say you know they're honest if they have a realtor because everyone know that realtors are no better than the general public.
Are you going to have time out of your schedule to take them through your house?
Are you going to have the equity to give up 6% of the selling price? See, if you have a more open listing service this is the choice you get to make. Do I want to pay 6% or do I want to spend some of my time doing it myself. With the MLS you have no choice.
And even then they can come back with an offer written by an agent.
That's the great thing about it. It doesn't preclude the use of realtors. It gives you the options to not use a realtor. So you would have choices rather than being locked into doing things the realtors' way.
About it costing a lot of money to make such a database. I think it would be fantastically cheap to make it. The mapping technology already exists. Big companies like google and ms already have huge database centers that they can easily leverage and there are already people that have done quick projects mashing up craigslist with maps and that certainly didn't cost a billion dollars. It would however be expensive to market it and get people to use it. A billion dollars though? I don't think so. People are already attracted to the rich set of features that sites like redfin have. And with with prices crashing everywhere more people are going fsbo to reduce transaction costs. The industry is already starting to gravitate towards a more open database. I bet by the time I want to buy a house fsbo will be widespread even without a major company like google making an MLS competitor.
Perfectfire maybe you got lost between David Losh and me somewhere. I am not a realtor, nor do I need to fight tooth and nail for anything . This is a normal market swing that has happened enough times, just like every economic rise and decline. My peers and associates have seen this in the 80s, 90s, and now. Nobody is in awe of this as people who have been around the business 30+ years and own millions of dollars in commercial, land, residential, and multi.
My knowledge of FSBOs is that when there is a ton of buyers looking and competing for houses a FSBO sign and a listing in the paper will sell a house in a week or two, as friends of mine used to do in Bellevue two years ago. Right now people who are trying to sell need every eyeball they can get, and 95% of the eyeballs go through MLS. So until somebody comes out with this ultra creative, fast selling tool, that puts that 95% of the homes into their system, you will not see an extremely filled FSBO market. It is also that sellers of houses want representation.
i'm sorry my comment got lost, but this thread is sounding a lot like the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. "if only we had the leads we could do some business."
i've written deals on cocktail napkins and closed them. you don't need a real estate agent, attorney, rdfn, or the pepper. in the State of Washington it's all done by Agreement. we don't have real estate contracts.
if you want a good deal do what a competent real estate agent does and get in your car, walk a neighborhood, pass out flyers, or look for that fsbo on craigslist, Little Nickle, and sign on the street.
there's no money for a national housing data base. where's the profit? the real estate industry is the real estate industry. questioning the dollar amount isn't going anywhere.
MacDonalds, Sears, Boeings, Microsoft, or Wal Mart are all in the real estate business. they buy land, develop it, then move on to the next piece.
have you seen the Microsoft campus? i saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. holy crap! doesn't that Paul Allen guy own some dirt in down town Seattle. didn't they sell some stock to make those purchases?
kidding aside, i'm commenting because i was told i had to blog for business. in my adventure's i came across this site. this tim guy has built a community of more than about six people talking to each other, like the real estate blogs do.
as a model it's a great concept.
Paul Allen owns basically everything between Denny, and to the Lake Union accept two parcels which are fighting tooth and nail to sell.
My knowledge of FSBOs is that when there is a ton of buyers looking and competing for houses a FSBO sign and a listing in the paper will sell a house in a week or two, as friends of mine used to do in Bellevue two years ago.
Right now, yes, but that doesn't mean things can't change.
Right now people who are trying to sell need every eyeball they can get, and 95% of the eyeballs go through MLS.
Nope, not true. 95% of the eyeballs go through realtors who only look on the MLS. Up until a few years ago, nobody but realtors could even look at the MLS.
So until somebody comes out with this ultra creative, fast selling tool, that puts that 95% of the homes into their system, you will not see an extremely filled FSBO market.
Aha! Now you're starting to get it. This is what we've been saying all along. We want someone to create this tool so that FSBO will become competitive with realtors and their MLS. Actually, the tools that are already out there right are probably adequate, but if a big name company like google made their own and put their hype machine behind it, maybe that would be enough to start a mass migration away from the MLS.
It is also that sellers of houses want representation.
Really? Or is it just that there just isn't an alternative to not having a realtor? If there was a good system for listing your house for sale without having to pay 6% I think a lot of people would prefer it.
there is a saying of real estate investing: buy through a real estate agent, but sell FSBO.
i don't do that. i prefer having an agent deal with the public. when i sell a place it's better for me to let some one else talk with people or decide how best to present the property.
in today's real estate market we hear about people getting multiple offers. how crazy is that? it's just a fact real estate agents create this hype then the buyers fall for it.
there's more to a sale than putting the property on a web site. it's a long over all process.
there is a saying of real estate investing: buy through a real estate agent, but sell FSBO.
In Vegas, the saying is "Every game has a patsy. If you don't know who it is, it's probably you." In real estate, the buyer is the patsy, because every other player in the game wants a higher priced transaction. I would only really trust a buyer's agent with a fixed fee rather than a percentage fee.
Comments
What about the food industry? Literally billions of people buy or sell food every single day! Or how about the banking industry...the industry that finances the real estate industry.
These are just a couple examples I made up. What I want to know is did you make up your statement as well, or is it actually legitimate? I would be interested to see the source if it is true, because that would be striking.
LOL. LA LA LA LA LAND.
Regulatory approvals will not come in quick for google anytime soon to list ANYTHING.
BTW Redfin is barely scraping on the tip of the "grey" area of the law, and department of licensing. Has already been fined $50k by NWMLS and not once but twice.
You don't need any regulatory approval to list your home for sale and Google, or anyone else (for instance, Craigslist) doesn't need anybody's approval to create a database of homes for sale.
You're probably thinking that Google would mirror the NWMLS like Redfin, but what people are talking about is Google (or somebody else) completely bypassing anything maintained or controlled by NAR or any existing real estate group in order to eliminate their monopoly on real estate listings. That way if you wanted to buy or sell real estate you would never ever have to deal with any realtor or anything controlled by realtors making realtors superfluous and obsolete.
As more and more tech companies with real innovation move into the real estate space and more and more buyers and sellers turn to these companies to cut transaction costs I can look forward to easily buying a house in 5 or so years without an agent.
the search for properties on-line is a real estate industry technology. who do you think pays? you? is the consumer paying for internet property search technology?
no, real estate companies, builders, realtor.com, and in this area John L Scott.
real estate agents blogging for lead generation is still a tough way to make a buck.
My contemporaries are building town houses. that's were the money is. selling a $350K housing unit for $500K, that's the money.
who would pay $500K for a crappy housing unit that is economically obsolete from the moment the new owner moves in? people researching on-line for the best deal on town houses.
real estate companies would love to get rid of real estate agents. if they can put up a web site for $120K and generate a million dollars in business what do they need with real estate agents?
filling out the paper work costs $500 in clerical work, from start to finish. redfin is charging a 1% commission for that $500 worth of work, but wait there's more.
there are ad dollars, redirected links, personal information for future targeting, and the data that has it's own value.
no, the agents who are trawling for commission dollars are the weakest link. the money is in building the site for the people to come to.
there is a sucker born every minute and today they are leveraging themselves into between a quarter to half million dollar real estate transaction using information they get from real estate companies who are selling a product on-line.
Exactly.
You are quite sure of yourself on those plus points of redfin, google, and whatever other company taking care of selling 1% of the homes that their like is managing to sell at the moment.
Real estate buying and selling is a liability, there is insurance, then there is such thing as lawsuits. Agents who are worth their salt which is 25% of the whole realtore forc, will protect their client because that is their reputation on the line, and they earn what they get paid.
Plenty of buyers in Seattle who are in the market of $800k+ homes will never venture out without an agent, and use a company that only undercuts their own service.
Redfin or any other outfit that decides to get into this business and write contracts on behalf of buyers, sellers, will sooner or later face litigation over transactions. Then we will see how they handle and protect their client for $500.
The number of agents however will decline over future as buyers get more savvy with what services they need.
What "plus points" are you talking about that I'm "quite sure of"? I'm don't know what sort of transaction volume Redfin and the like have (and you seem to have no idea either) but just because it is small right now doesn't mean it'll be small forever. Just think of how small the transaction volume was at expedia back in 1999. I guess that means internet vaction booking never took off.
What does any of this have to do with a company creating real estate listing service apart from the MLS? Whoever creates this service wouldn't necesarily have to write contracts and do transactions (like Redfin). It's just a listing service. A database with a fancy web-based front end that isn't controlled by realtors. If realtors are getting sued left and right then it is due to their own incompetence and has no bearing on the actual databases that the real estate was listed on.
Also, what about that regulatory approval you talked about earlier? You still haven't said what kind of approval someone needs to create an online database of real estate listings.
I was referring to redfin being a NWMLS feed service under a brokerage which is regulated by laws.
If we are talking about the creation of listing services out there from google or any other company perspective that would be a monumental undertaking and not a $120k website such as what someone referred to it above. It would be more like a closer to a billion dollar venture, to first of all make the system, then get the majority of the people to actually want to use it.
If you are a normal professional or normally employed person to list a home on FSBO makes sense when you are in an area where things sell very quickly.
If you list a home on google, how many people do you have to arrange showings with? Are they screened as being actual buyers or have other motives? Are you going to have time out of your schedule to take them through your house?
And even then they can come back with an offer written by an agent.
"These are just a couple examples I made up. What I want to know is did you make up your statement as well, or is it actually legitimate? I would be interested to see the source if it is true, because that would be striking."
Let's start with:
Global investment volumes in commercial property (excluding multifamily investment property) rose by 33% last year to reach a record US$645bn (€492bn) according to new report published by global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield.
All regions saw a strong uplift in activity, with the real push coming from Europe and Asia, up 50% and 48% respectively. With investment volumes of US$249bn (€191bn), the US accounted for 39% of global activity down from 46% in 2005. Europe increased its share from 41% to 46% and Asia from 13% to 15%.
Now let's look at expedia for dollar volume:
NEW YORK, Feb 16, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI) reported fourth quarter results today. Revenue totaled $1.7 billion, up 9% on a comparable net basis.
the report goes on to list the losses of expedia.
expedia was the brain child of the air lines who wanted to by pass the travel agents who were hindering the over booking, increased sales prices, and preference of one air line over the other.
we now have lots of choices of air lines that are going broke. it's a deregulated free for all of higher air fares, less service, and absolutely no accountability for air lines behaviour. you can check the internet for Angie's list comments on any air line.
the problem with the internet checks and balance system is that air lines hire people to put in positive comments to the internet each day.
The idea of a national data base of homes listed for sale is being pushed by a wide variety of real estate hucksters, swindlers, and con people across the United States. These people would like nothing more than to get you into a world they created. It would leave you turning to them to "help" you out for a cheap fee.
remember the good business saying: " we do it by volume."
About it costing a lot of money to make such a database. I think it would be fantastically cheap to make it. The mapping technology already exists. Big companies like google and ms already have huge database centers that they can easily leverage and there are already people that have done quick projects mashing up craigslist with maps and that certainly didn't cost a billion dollars. It would however be expensive to market it and get people to use it. A billion dollars though? I don't think so. People are already attracted to the rich set of features that sites like redfin have. And with with prices crashing everywhere more people are going fsbo to reduce transaction costs. The industry is already starting to gravitate towards a more open database. I bet by the time I want to buy a house fsbo will be widespread even without a major company like google making an MLS competitor.
A normal realtor who knows his job, will screen his clients in the office, prequalify.
As far as FSBO being wide spread, it will be very widespread when there is a ton of buyers and no houses, and you can drive through the neighbourhood that you like and see a FSBO. Other then that FSBO is 4%-5% of the market at best.
Its an analogy of desktop linux trying to catch up with desktop windows. LOL
But you don't know if the realtor did this. And you don't know if the clients didn't just lie to the realtor. And you don't know if the realtors themselves are honest. So a prospective buyer that happens to have a realtor doesn't necessarily make them any more serious than a buyer without a realtor. Realtors wish that every buyer without a realtor was a dishonest fraudster so that they could force everyone to get a realtor in order to do any real estate transaction, but in reality that just isn't the case.
This sentence doesn't even make sense. So FSBO will be widespread when there are no houses, but you can drive through any neighborhood and see lots of FSBO houses? That's contradictory. Which is it? No houses or tons of FSBO houses?
I've already addressed this, but I guess it didn't sink in. Small now doesn't necessarily mean small forever. It'll be a difficult battle for sure as realtors like you fight tooth and nail to preserve their monopoly on real estate transactions via the MLS. But I'd argue that we've never had a better chance to win the battle what with internet technology the way it is, people trying to save money in a declining market and a general level of distrust that the NAR has built up during the bubble years.
And a more open real estate for sale database wouldn't have to result in the death of the realtor profession. It'll just mean realtors will have actual honest to goodness competition and will really have to show that they've earned their 6%.
Its an analogy of desktop machines trying to catch up with mainframes. snort
i've written deals on cocktail napkins and closed them. you don't need a real estate agent, attorney, rdfn, or the pepper. in the State of Washington it's all done by Agreement. we don't have real estate contracts.
if you want a good deal do what a competent real estate agent does and get in your car, walk a neighborhood, pass out flyers, or look for that fsbo on craigslist, Little Nickle, and sign on the street.
there's no money for a national housing data base. where's the profit? the real estate industry is the real estate industry. questioning the dollar amount isn't going anywhere.
MacDonalds, Sears, Boeings, Microsoft, or Wal Mart are all in the real estate business. they buy land, develop it, then move on to the next piece.
have you seen the Microsoft campus? i saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. holy crap! doesn't that Paul Allen guy own some dirt in down town Seattle. didn't they sell some stock to make those purchases?
kidding aside, i'm commenting because i was told i had to blog for business. in my adventure's i came across this site. this tim guy has built a community of more than about six people talking to each other, like the real estate blogs do.
as a model it's a great concept.
Perfectfire maybe you got lost between David Losh and me somewhere. I am not a realtor, nor do I need to fight tooth and nail for anything
My knowledge of FSBOs is that when there is a ton of buyers looking and competing for houses a FSBO sign and a listing in the paper will sell a house in a week or two, as friends of mine used to do in Bellevue two years ago. Right now people who are trying to sell need every eyeball they can get, and 95% of the eyeballs go through MLS. So until somebody comes out with this ultra creative, fast selling tool, that puts that 95% of the homes into their system, you will not see an extremely filled FSBO market. It is also that sellers of houses want representation.
Regards
Regards.
Paul Allen owns basically everything between Denny, and to the Lake Union accept two parcels which are fighting tooth and nail to sell.
i don't do that. i prefer having an agent deal with the public. when i sell a place it's better for me to let some one else talk with people or decide how best to present the property.
in today's real estate market we hear about people getting multiple offers. how crazy is that? it's just a fact real estate agents create this hype then the buyers fall for it.
there's more to a sale than putting the property on a web site. it's a long over all process.
A friend of mine listed a home a couple of weeks back in Seattle $1m+ is the price, and had two offers the first day.
Still happens but that is such a rarity. Which is good.
In Vegas, the saying is "Every game has a patsy. If you don't know who it is, it's probably you." In real estate, the buyer is the patsy, because every other player in the game wants a higher priced transaction. I would only really trust a buyer's agent with a fixed fee rather than a percentage fee.