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Google vs. The Realtors
By Max | April 12, 2007
Last year, I sold my house on craigslist. Everything worked out pretty well. I didn’t have to deal with Realtors and all their nonsense. I simply listed my house on craigslist and got a few calls. Everyone who came and looked at the house was very nice. I ended up getting an offer from the very first couple who came by after about two weeks. I eventually sold it to them too. All the paperwork was really easy. You just have to walk in to a title company and tell them you are selling a house. They’ll be more than happy to give you all the paperwork you need, and even help you fill it out. Going through a Realtor would require the use of a title company too.
After selling my home FSBO, I realized how easy it was compared to going through the process with a Realtor. In my opinion, Realtors are too expensive for the service they provide. For most sales, I don’t believe they more in value than the 6% they are taking away. The days of the 6% fee Realtors are slowly going away. In 10 or 20 years buying and selling real estate might be an entirely different process compared to today. 80% of buyers are already using the internet to help them in their real estate search and a lot of companies are trying to get in the game.
Google is the latest to enter this market. I found out today about a new Google Beta program called Google Base. Google Base appears to be Google’s answer to craigslist. Many of you have used craigslist. I love it, and I have used it to buy and sell a lot of stuff including my house. Craig Newmark, the owner of craigslist runs his operation almost as a non-profit even though there are giant profits to be made. Ebay for one is certainly a little scared of craigslist. Google, realizing what a valuable service craigslist provides, has started to compete with their Google Base. What I want to focus on though is the addition of the housing section in Google Base. They have integrated it with Google Maps, so you can browse house listings in a graphical way using the map. I think this is an advancement over craigslist and combined with Google’s superior internet presence could become a real contender to compete against the MLS run by Realtors. I also fully expect to see Google buy someone like zillow.com. If not, I think it is almost a certainty that they build their own competing information site.
So kids, if you are planning on becoming a Realtor, stay in school and take some search engine classes instead.
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April 13th, 2007 at 7:07 am
I think being an appraiser is where it is at.
April 13th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Appraisers do make a decent amount for what seems to be very little work. I paid for an appraisal on my house and it costs about $300 for 2 hours of work.
April 15th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I may have to check that out, I have a house for sell in Yankeeland, and its been on the market for 7 months. I am tired of paying double mortgages. Thanks for the post.