Technology, the 6% Commission and Anger Management
Is technology going to put you out of business?
Will Zillow and its pals make the real estate agent obsolete?
What will happen when Joseph P. Lunchbox is able to buy a house on the internet? Can that really ever happen?
If even reading these types of questions starts to boil your blood… good. It means you are alive. Your anger is normal.
But consider this…
If the market is attracted to Zillow and sites like it, why not view that as a clue?
Zillow is giving the market something they feel they aren’t getting elsewhere or providing it in a way that is easier, more efficient or more desirable in some other way.
The whole thing is really just a big market research project sponsored by the investors that are bankrolling the Zillow guys.
And you can benefit from it.
What is Zillow giving the market that they perceive as so valuable?
How can you build on that and deliver something even better in a more unique way?
Technology is not making the Realtor® irrelevant, it is simply changing what your clients perceive as valuable.
The IT industry is going through the same thing. Just think back to the early days of the web. Web design was somewhat akin to voodoo. Very few people had the skills and because of that could demand high fees.
Now things are different…
There is practically a web designer or every corner. Many are willing to work for peanuts. Actually, some of the prices being charged on freelance sites like Elance.com won’t even buy you a bag of peanuts.
What happened?
Did the “Do It Yourself” technology put web designers out of business?
No, it simply redefined what the market perceives as valuable.
Same with the investment industry. Stock trading used to be an activity of the elite. The brokers did the trades. If I didn’t have a broker, I couldn’t do a trade.
Now I can sell a billion dollars worth of stock with a click of a mouse.
Did technology put the traders out of business?
Again… no, now the investment world sells information to help you make better investments.
So in the end, what all of this really adds up to is another opportunity for smart Realtors® to seize.
Figure out what your market perceives as valuable, not what it used to think is valuable or what you think should be valuable.
The market will tell you what is valuable, you just have to listen.
you are right it’s a good thing there are some sites that work with realtors like www.mylista.com
— robin Oct 28, 02:33 AM #