I have heard so much about the risks associated with a home purchase, the potential for lawsuits etc., but I have yet to meet anyone who has actually been involved in a lawsuit on a home purchase. During my last sale I was curious, so I asked two realtors with 10+ years of experience each and both told me they have never been involved with a lawsuit. I realize that there are always risks, and that there are indeed lawsuits that get filed, but my feeling is that it is an overused sales tactic. Do you have any data to illustrate how frequently these lawsuits occur? Out of your last 100 transactions, or an average realtors last 100 transactions, how many end up in a lawsuit?
“5 years ago you weren’t asking us to invest thousands of dollars in new technologies to save you money.”
-The argument is not about us asking realtors to lower their fees or invest in technology, but rather how ‘mainline’ realtors will respond to the realities of the marketplace. You don’t have to invest a dime because technologies are coming online that will allow a consumer like me to bypass a realtor and do much of my research and transactions from my laptop, on my own and with the assistance of advisors and service providers who will charge a flat fee for services like research, document review, escrow, legal review etc. IMO, the argument is whether full service realtors will still have relevance in the majority of transactions that do not involve communicating with heirs to an estate or servicing rich or technologically unsavvy clients, or those who just feel they need a realtor.
I would hire that caddy, but only because he would have very specific local knowledge that I wouldn’t have, and it wouldn’t make sense to fly my own in either. In your example, that knowledge gap will never close and the cost of bringing one in will always be high. With home sales, that knowledge gap is closing fast and there are millions and millions of ‘caddys’ to choose from, but the cost of hiring one hasn’t changed.
