Agents In Real Estate 2.0. Will We Be Like Travel Agents, Accountants, Used Car Salesmen Or Lawyers?

The Agent's role in Real Estate 2.0 is rapidly evolving.  Real Estate 2.0 is all about the Internet and an Agent's ability to quickly establish and develop a virtual relationship with home buyers and sellers searching the Web.  It's less about the Home, and more about the Home Page.

Over 75% of home buyers start their home search on the Internet.  Over 85% of home buyers use the Internet in their home search.  Over 99% of Agents searching for homes for their buyers use the Internet.  With the Internet; an Agent must: "Be there, or be nowhere".  Where will you be?

Because of the protectionist philosophy and practices of the NAR, the MLSs and Realtor.com ("Hide it. They will have to come.), Real Estate 1.0 resisted most of the Web 2.0 advances made by Google and its stated vision for open information access in the fields of Travel, Accounting, Auto Sales and Law.

When the smoke clears from the explosion of Real Estate 1.0; and the dust settles on the fertile marketing opportunities of Real Estate 2.0; what profession will Realtors look like?

An Agent's greatest fear is becoming a Real Estate 1.0 Dinosaur; like Travel Agents, disintermediated into 1.0-blivion.  Travel Agents were middlemen once, too.  In fact, Richard Barton helped disintermediate those Travel Agents with Expedia; which, along with Priceline and Travelocity, turned many of those Travel Agents into Real Estate Agents.  Will Realtors go the way of the Travel Agent Dinosaurs?

But selling a 1 or 2 week vacation or a short business trip is selling a commodity; like a book, a CD or a DVD.  Selling travel has little in common with selling a house?  Since Big Real Estate, helped our former big government buddies, have made the home buying process so complex, buying a home is much different than making a few clicks on an Internet connection.  Travel Insurance, Anyone?

By making buying a home more complex, Realtors made our services less of a commodity and made ourselves more of a necessity.

Used car sales has had the Kelly Blue Book for years.  The fact that there are now online car price services from Kelly, Edmunds and Consumers Report, hasn't put many used car salesmen out of business.  All this Internet access has opened up used car sales on ebay and other Internet outlets.  You can sell your car yourself.  But do you?

State and Federal tax laws are readily available on the Internet.  There is great software available to keep your records and do your taxes.  But I haven't heard of many accountants going out of business, or becoming Real Estate Agents.  You can do your taxes yourself.  But do you?

Federal and State Criminal and Civil Laws are readily available on the Internet.  There are good books and software to help you write legal documents.  But they still say, "A lawyer who defends himself, has a fool for a client."  And I haven't heard of many lawyers leaving the profession.  You can defend yourself in court.  But do you?

Mike Ferry has even embraced the "Do Not Call List", stopped telling Agents to put their computers in the closet and has embraced the Internet.  Mike now even podcasts over the Internet.  He may even have a script or two for Zillow users, Google Base and drip email.

Zillow wants to have the fastest, cheapest, most convenient home estimates (Zestimates); so it can sell ads, like Google does, all around the free results.  Zillow sells ads.  Zillow wants a piece of your action, but it's your ad budget action, not your whole commission action.  Eventually Real Estate Agents will be the biggest advertisers on Zillow.

But won't anyone be disintermediated by the Internet, "The Great Disintermediator"?

Yes!  As Zillow and other Real Estate 2.0 Websites take more pages from the Google Playbook, "Build neat, free services. They will come." Home buyers and sellers and their Agents will have more easy and convenient Internet search services, and for FREE. 

Zillow et. al. will provide a bigger and better interface, a bigger and better MLS (The MLZ, Multiple Listing Zillow), and bigger and better services than Brokers and Local, State and National Associations.  FOR FREE! 

More and more Realtors will go it alone with their own Websites.  They'll have a new MLS (Like an MLZ, Multiple Listing Zillow) that is more user and Agent friendly.  These new Websites will make even the smallest Broker site look, taste and feel like the expensive spread; and more and more like the best thing since sliced bread and unsliced commissions.

GOT NEXT!  Happy Searching.

WebHomeUSAblog; The Blog of Real Estate Search Marketing

Comments

[Brendan King]

Neat post. I think you might be selling the value of Realtors a bit short however, and, I don't really think that a home will ever become a commodity. That said, I did find a lot of what you said here interesting. You might want to have a read at my blog as a lot of what you say here I agree with, especially you comments at the end with respect to new websites.
Best,
Brendan

[Shaun McLane]

This just needed to evolve. Buyers are getting smarter, and using the web for everything - including buying homes. We, as Realtors, need to run full speed at this and make the most out of it.

[condo philippines]

There are so much possibilities what the agents would be in the new generation of real estate marketing.. like Shaun said buyers are getting smarter in everything they are buying..

-david