Inman: What's standing in the way of a national MLS?13820
Pages:
1
 WGAN ForumFounder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Inman (17 December 2020) What's standing in the way of a national MLS? A lack of teamwork - Thad Wong, the CEO of @properties, revealed the big roadblock to a national broker-agnostic search platform during an Inman Connect Now session Thursday “We need to collectively work together towards the common good of the industry and that has never been done yet,” Wong said. “But because there are so many threats to disruption, at the end of the day, the big brokerages, the legacy brands, the large independents have to figure out a way to come together for industry preservation,” reports Inman. -- I encourage you to subscribe to Inman. Free 90 day trial of Inman with this WGAN Affiliate Code |
||
| Post 1 • IP flag post | ||
|
Deano private msg quote post Address this user | |
| It's not industry preservation they are seeking, it's their role in the value chain and their claim to a large percentage of the monetization that they want to protect. Big difference. The funny thing is that the role of a broker has little utility in today's marketplace. It's hard to justify 20% of the transaction when your role is quite literally oversite, training and compliance. In the not-so-distant future, seller funded buyers' broker compensation will be a thing of the past and these will leave these companies searching for a business model. The 'industry' will collapse under its own weight as independent agents and brokers win the business pushing the cost of service to gravitate towards the actual cost of the labor. The industry is going to be just fine. Listing data is ubiquitous online, I don't believe that a national MLS is even a concern for the industry going forward. I do understand that having one database with one CTO is more efficient and better than having 700 databases with 700 different CTOs! The people that run this industry is so inept that there is a better chance of them reclaiming rights to use realtor.com as a way to promote and solidify the brand. For anyone that doesn't know, they sold the rights to that domain for $1M into perpetuity to a for-profit company that doesn't care at all about the brand. The industry he is talking about is 'dead man walking'. |
||
| Post 2 • IP flag post | ||
|
Expertise private msg quote post Address this user | |
| What's standing in the way of a national MLS? Hundreds of local MLSs. |
||
| Post 3 • IP flag post | ||
 WGANStandard Member Los Angeles |
Home3D private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Agree with @Expertise. The local MLS's will protect their turf. That's the biggest reason. I don't personally feel that the Zillows threaten the status quo as much as we think. Real estate is complex, it's not Uber. Every property is different and there are mountains of legal issues even for the smallest property to change hands. An agent's personal service has value and the broker/brokerage is taking the liability in the transaction, no small matter. We live in the USA, land of lawsuits. There may be, over time, a gradual shrinkage of the agent commission, but the vast majority of RE agents aren't peddling the $10M mega-mansions you see on TV, where they are paid way more than they earn. It can be argued that being a RE agent is among the highest-earning professions relative to the required education level (in CA, you don't even have to graduate from kindergarten) but this is also an opportunity for enterprising people from all walks of life, including immigrants to the U.S. In that sense, it's a great equalizer and door to the American dream. |
||
| Post 4 • IP flag post | ||
|
|
Deano private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Break apart the transaction and you will see that half of buyers agent job IS uber. Showings - you need to be able to open a door and have a decent knowledge of the area (qualified if you live nearby) Skilled component: contracts and closing - 10-20 hours of work. I've been a broker for 20 years and have had many agents working under my license. How big is that liability risk? I've never had to use E&O. Not once. It's an expense line item similar to uber drivers having auto insurance. This is not a justification to require consumers pay inflated commissions. In California, the average commission around LA is $20k. That's $1k per hour for someone that doesn't need any real education to get started and a licensing test that literally anyone can pass. Any 'equalizer' that revolves around getting paid more than the work should demand is doomed to be right-sized by technology. Zillow takes 35% of agent commissions - at the very least, that amount should be trimmed off of the deal - what is it that Zillow does that adds value and justifies this role in the value chain? They have good web devs that make a good UI and they have great marketing funnels. If Zillow went away, the NATIONAL listing data would still be readily accessible by consumers. Zillow is looking for more than 35% - they are the biggest threats to agents in existence today IMO. |
||
| Post 5 • IP flag post | ||
|
JPPeron private msg quote post Address this user | |
| DAMN! Maybe I need to move to California. I have been known to spend Years working with a buyer just to end up making a $1,200 comission check (before taxes). | ||
| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
|
|
Expertise private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm not sure where you're getting this figure from? If the average TOTAL commission nationwide were $12,000 ($240k x 5%), then you're saying that Zillow is getting $4200 per transaction? Yeah, no. What Zillow does is aggregate buyer leads and sell them to the highest agent bidder. A pretty valuable service. Once upon a time, that's what brokers did. Quote: Originally Posted by Deano |
||
| Post 7 • IP flag post | ||
Pages:
1This topic is archived. Start new topic?