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1. RE should and will in some cases be Uberized, just in the way (and I know you hate the comp) car purchases have been Uberized. Yes you could argue a home is a different than a car from a need perspective. My counter to that would be, not everyone can buy a house (or condo or townhouse), so the "ones a need and one isn't" isn't really all that accurate. Because there is nothing about buying a piece of real estate that is the need....having a roof over your head is the need, and that can be accomplished in other ways.
There will always be a segment of the population who given the choice would rather minimize their time commitment to a process that seems largely antiquated rather than get the greatest possible deal from the transaction. To go back to the car comp, there is almost no chance I will ever buy another car from a traditional car dealership. I am done with the snake dance, where the guy or gal who followed me into the parking lot doesn't have the ability to make a deal, so they pull in the sales manager who is an other worldly scumbag (generally) who then slows the dance down in an attempt to force me into a deal.
I'll spend my $ with CarMax or Carvana where there is no dance, but higher prices. The price is the price is the price.
2. This isn't really a statement specific about ibuyers, but America in general. And I say this as someone who has worked in the data/marketing space for 16 years.
We need a Digital Bill of Rights and we needed it yesterday. What companies are doing with the "Capitalism-ization of Data" or as a former CEO I worked for called it, the "Monitization of Data", should frankly bother everyone. Whether it is Zillow in this case, using data they have based on info people searching on their site enter, to then basically sent the market for their benefit to then maximize their profit is really no different than what Facebook does when it sells all you data to marketers (or worse).
I think it is fair to say that if someone like me could explain to a random average American what companies do with their data, the average person would be largely offended by it. And they have the ability to do it because A, the average person doesn't understand the implications in the T&Cs and simply clicks yes because they want to the use the site and B, the people running this country were in their 40s and 50s when the internet showed up and literally can't grasp it (see Mark Zuckerberg's testimony in the Senate as a perfect example). And while I have worked at companies that could create an entirely scripted event based on your data, I was far from the big time like these places are.
Companies should be able to make money. They should not be able to setup data capturing forms on their sites, slap on some loosey goosey T&C that the average person doesn't get, and most people simply agree to, then once the average person enters the information about them and their search for a home, uses that to then artificially sent the market. How is that not Insider Trading? You literally became the product, the product was your data, that they otherwise wouldn't have had but you shared it with them, but because you entered where you were looking, what your budget was and they have your IP Address when you connected to the site.... you laid out their next corporate quarter strategy in the 27587 market.
Meh. People decided years ago not to worry about this stuff.
America is a Nation of Consumer Convenience Without Gravitas.
Most people who pontificate that theory are doing so from a reverse mindset mostly focusing on passage of time and utilization of technology "zomg Uber is the new way to taxi so XYZ app is going to be the new way to sell/buy houses"
But in reality; the market concepts behind the two theoretical "transitions" are contradictory...
For Taxi--> Uber; previously: consumers called one of a handful of local companies that generally had a monopoly in their market area with very little competition. You called the company, waited on their timeline, they sent out an employee of theirs who was someone who you didn't know anything about/get to choose. The drivers all had the same vehicle and prices/fees were set and didn't fluctuate much....then came uber/rideshare apps...
Now; while vetted/background checked ("licensed" if you will)....an independent contractor has their own vehicle; you know who they are, what their overall consumer rating is, and what car they are driving; and can elect to have them as your driver or decide to pass and find someone else.
In that scenario; the transition was from the "one size fits all" and "one or two large companies and their employees dominate the market" to a "pick and choose which independent contractor you would like to use".
People advocating for the "uberization" of RE are really advocating for the reverse process. They are correlating the technology aspect of the Taxi-->Rideshare shift while seemingly ignoring the marketplace dynamics shift that would go the exact opposite way. One or two tech companies sending out their employees to tell you how much your house is worth and then those same employees selling it to the next person all for a "flat" (higher) fee..... vs the consumer themselves vetting those who would be representing their interests and coordinating the sale/purchase of a property.
Is there a glut of out-of-touch, self-centered, and scheming agents out there that need to be weeded out and for which a massive over-haul of the licensing and accepted business practices needs to occur in order to address?....abso-freaking-lutely...
Is an "uberization" (really; the Wal-Martiziation" of the RE market the more consumer & free-market-friendly solution? Hell to the no. Also FWIW in my experience it is actually the younger buyers who more adamantly reject the I-buyer listed homes being anti-huge-corporation and all.
I think you're taking the overarching "mentality" a step too far and I'll use apps like RobinHood as the proxy.
People who would make the move to a digital "purchasing experience" for a home are doing it because it makes the process "easier"; an app could present the tollgates to the process, in easy to consume UI/UX form and further lessen the reliance on advisers; in the same way RobinHood type apps break down barriers to the stonks game. Its as close to "Click, Click.......Boom" as its going to get
So in a certain cohort, the time save, the 3-6% save on commission, the convenience of doing the whole thing from your house supersedes the downsides (such as fees, perhaps a higher list price, etc)
This is by no means a one sized fits all position; for instance I certainly will, when we buy again, go the "analog route". But I will say that if younger crowd is as anti corp as you say in this instance, they do realize many realtors are part of national/international organizations? I mean is Zillow that much different than ExP Realty from a "ZOMG, Corporations are baaaaaaaad" POV?
I don’t know that Uber is the best example, but the realty business does seem ripe for a larger upheaval from the internet than what we’ve seen so far. I don’t think the existing iBuyer companies have quite found the secret sauce yet, though
And UberGaveMeAllYourDataAndNowI'mGoingToScriptYourNex tShoppingExperience at yours!
I was so cranky...... Website asked for my birthday, and they wouldn't accept February 29, 1997.
Picky, picky....
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