Power to the People
November 24, 2009 by Doug Lindstrom
Filed under Buyer Rebates, Buyer Services
When I was a kid, my Dad sold real estate and would oftentimes tell me about “the book”. The book was the MLS and it was updated once per month. In the old days, the consumer was 100% at the mercy of the agent to provide the information (via “the book”). Now, the consumer has been empowered by the internet and the availability of real estate feeds with sites like www.Realtor.com, www.trulia.com, www.MetroBrokersOnline.com and so many more.
With the available information, it seems to me that the MLS still provides value but is no longer a commodity like it was when I was a kid. The consumer is now able to do their own research online, look for property, public records and so on. Knowing that almost 90% of all property searches start on the internet can make the agents job a lot easier. That being said, why do so many agents still expect to earn 3% on the buyer side when they may not have found the property that the buyer ends up purchasing? Beats me!
In our world, it only makes sense to rebate a buyer who may have done a tremendous amount of work researching properties that meet their criteria. After all, buyers usually know what they want and with the power of the internet, they may save the agent a ton of time and effort. Should the agent be compensated for your efforts or should you? We agree! See our buyer rebate program here.
