Century21 Listing Agent Fee (gated, professionals, association)

[kww]

Originally Posted by livinfairfax

We used to rely exclusively on the realtors to give us options. Zillow and the internet gave more power to the consumers.

Realtors don't want transparency, it's their competitive edge. It's not the same as a value-added process where something is tacked on.

If they want to consider themselves as consultants, charge the fee per hour. Even at the prevailing lawyer-rates, they probably average $2-3K per transaction vs. $12K.

I'd be curious to see what Zillow estimates your home is worth, versus what you and your agent opted to list for.

[livinfairfax]

Originally Posted by kww

I'd be curious to see what Zillow estimates your home is worth, versus what you and your agent opted to list for.

Not sure what your intent with this statement.

But on this note, I view real estate as a commodity. I think we need the infrastructure to treat as such.

Sharing of properties is inevitable. We should get ready. Unless we want to stop population growth with WWIII. (whole another discussion)

[kww]

Originally Posted by livinfairfax

Not sure what your intent with this statement.

But on this note, I view real estate as a commodity. I think we need the infrastructure to treat as such.

Sharing of properties is inevitable. We should get ready. Unless we want to stop population growth with WWIII. (whole another discussion)

You stated that Zillow gave more power to consumers.

Zillow is well known for their horrible Zestimates. So, my statement was that I was curious how Zillow, which is again empowering consumers in your eyes, estimates your own homes value (in relation to what you and your agent feel it's worth and have it listed at).

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by livinfairfax

Sharing of properties is inevitable. We should get ready. Unless we want to stop population growth with WWIII. (whole another discussion)

A whole other discussion, yes, but the one line that will now make me stop reading this one.

[livinfairfax]

Originally Posted by spencgr

A whole other discussion, yes, but the one line that will now make me stop reading this one.

Thanks for contributing.

[livinfairfax]

Originally Posted by kww

You stated that Zillow gave more power to consumers.

Zillow is well known for their horrible Zestimates. So, my statement was that I was curious how Zillow, which is again empowering consumers in your eyes, estimates your own homes value (in relation to what you and your agent feel it's worth and have it listed at).

It's a good platform. They're innovative and make clean data. You can do a lot of things with it. Good APIs, logic, etc.

If we start down this path, it'll take at least 5 years for any realization.

[CapnTrips]

Zillow has inaccurate home price estimates, and their listings are usually outdated. However, Zillow (and Trulia) are useful for researching the prices at which homes sold during the past 6 mos, 12 mos, etc., thereby giving sellers and idea of how to price their home and buyers an idea of what they should be paying. The websites also have overlays giving data on such matters as crime rates, where amenities are located, etc These sites are far from perfect, but do provide helpful data to consumers.

[livinfairfax]

Originally Posted by CapnTrips

Zillow has inaccurate home price estimates, and their listings are usually outdated. However, Zillow (and Trulia) are useful for researching the prices at which homes sold during the past 6 mos, 12 mos, etc., thereby giving sellers and idea of how to price their home and buyers an idea of what they should be paying. The websites also have overlays giving data on such matters as crime rates, where amenities are located, etc These sites are far from perfect, but do provide helpful data to consumers.

Right. My point is, this is what most of the 6% agent fee used to go toward. Exactly information like this.

With the internet already providing it, the whole notion of the realtor service has become obsolete. Yet, we continue to pay a hefty price because of the status quo.

[kww]

zestimate median error is too large to take seriously. even 5% in northern virginia could mean a swing $20-25,000 in either direction. Couple that with a homeowners ability to request modifications to their estimate brings into question the zestimate entirely.

[livinfairfax]

Originally Posted by kww

zestimate median error is too large to take seriously. even 5% in northern virginia could mean a swing $20-25,000 in either direction. Couple that with a homeowners ability to request modifications to their estimate brings into question the zestimate entirely.

All the information used to be collected by realtors manually, hence the large fee.

Zillow or not, all of the information is more or less centralized. It literally went from matter of days of research to minutes.

This has NOT been reflected through the agent fees at all. (6 to 5% is negligible compared to less work that needs to be done)

Again, I think they should be considered a consultant and get paid hourly which still affords them enough income.

If there's too many realtors, then we should consider re-allocating these pool of labor to another value-generating arena like coding. They can do this work from home as well.