- This topic has 10 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 6 months ago by
Doofrat.
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January 10, 2007 at 12:56 PM #8197January 10, 2007 at 1:42 PM #43155
no_such_reality
Participant“Brokers prospered by not giving out information,” says Dottie Herman, CEO of New York based broker, Prudential Douglas Elliman
All hail Dottie, admitter that RE agents prospered by maintaining an inefficient marketplace.
Efficient markets are dependent on all players have all known information available to them.
January 11, 2007 at 9:52 PM #43156PerryChase
ParticipantIt’s about time!!
I think that several technologies are providing transparency in RE.
1. Zillow. For the first time, the public has sale history information. Most people previously did not know that sale history was public record. Now they can view that information and that causes them to dig deeper. Now that flipper profits are out in the open, buyers are becoming resistant to becoming the GF.
Zillow opened up a can a worms. Now that buyers have information, they tend to require for more answers to their questions.
2. Craigslist. Prior to Craigslist it was more difficult to find a rental. For individual rentals, you had to buy the newspaper and waste your time calling landlords, or you had to hire and agent to find a rental for you. Either that , or pay inflated prices to live in an apartment complex.
With Craigslist you can more effectively find a rental by looking at pictures and through email.
Rental prices are also more transparent. I believe this will hold down the pricing power of the large apartment complexes.
Nearly all sales are still made through the MLS but that will change (very slowly) over time.
3. Blogs. Blogs are a great way to share information prior to buying. Buyers can gain tremendous knowledge about certain neighborhoods and the state of the general market before they buy.
4. Zip Realty. I believe that Zip Realty is the first online service that allows you to search properties without trying to refer you to an agent (because they have their own low commission agents). That allows buyers to search to their hearts’ content, in the confort of their homes, without sales pressure.
In short, before web services, Real Estate was hit and miss. Buyers relied on friends and family and word of mouth and most importantly on the Realtor whose primary motivation is to close a deal. Now, the Realtor is becoming less instrumental in transactions.
Knowledge is power and tech is delivering that knowledge to potential buyers and sellers.
More transparency in RE will hold prices down. It’ll be interesting, in a few years, to look at studies on the affect of web services on RE.
January 11, 2007 at 10:19 PM #43296ParticipantYep, reading something like this
Sale History & Tax Info Sale History
10/12/2006: $570,000
01/14/2003: $355,000
08/27/1997: $165,000Makes you ask just how much a place is really worth.
January 13, 2007 at 9:39 PM #43381bob007
ParticipantYellow pages are effective in locating list of apartments ina given area. I called 30 apartments and find out availability, rent, deposit, size etc. I never needed an agent to find a rental.
January 14, 2007 at 9:01 AM #43386blackbox
ParticipantLooks like the 6 percent Commission will soon be a distant memory……
Amazing it lasted this long with skyrocketing home prices.
Not a bad gig. Agents had a 100 percent raise in 3 to 4 years.
Hey, hey now. I asked for a non-fat mocha latte with chocolate sprinkles. “Geez, an Ex hotshot real estate agent turn barrista”I need a cafe with at least an ex real estate appraisal dude employed as a barrista. At least those guys know/knew how to follow instructions without question, no matter how unrealistic the request was/is….
January 14, 2007 at 9:25 AM #43390farbet
ParticipantHow many people used Zip Realty?Pros and Cons
January 14, 2007 at 9:25 AM #43391ParticipantHow many people used Zip Realty?Pros and Cons
January 14, 2007 at 1:57 PM #43402ParticipantYellow pages are effective in locating list of apartments ina given area. I called 30 apartments and find out availability, rent, deposit, size etc. I never needed an agent to find a rental.
I was talking about non apartment-complex rentals, like private condos being rented out by owners. Before tech those were harder to find.
May 29, 2014 at 9:55 AM #774516SD Transplant
Participantbump…..it’s 7 years later, let’s see how the predictions turned out 🙂
– Zillow: pretty relevant compared to status quo NAR
– Craigslist:for renters is a great tool (price/availability/area research)P.S. and I miss PerryChase’s contribution to the blog 🙂
May 29, 2014 at 12:04 PM #774525Doofrat
Participant[quote=no_such_reality]Yep, reading something like this
Sale History & Tax Info Sale History
10/12/2006: $570,000
01/14/2003: $355,000
08/27/1997: $165,000Makes you ask just how much a place is really worth.[/quote]
Well according to my calculations, this place should be worth just shy of $900,000 by now.
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