
Dear Monty: I have been a real estate agent for 15 years. I may decide to leave the industry like several agents I know. It is the long and irregular hours, arguing with agents about who “owns” the customer, unethical tricks, incompetence and more.
Consumers don’t see the dark side of real estate. I have seen nothing that makes me believe technology will change things. What will an agent’s job look like in five years?
Monty: The internet has changed consumer behavior in the past 20 years. Smartphones, apps, new market platforms and more have increased expectations.
One way to see what is happening is to watch for the frequency of Amazon delivery trucks in your neighborhood. Twenty years ago, no one thought of buying a refrigerator sight unseen on a computer and having it delivered to their door, and no one thought Jeff Bezos’ idea of selling books online would work.
Many consumers now expect to shop and buy everything online and have it shipped to their home. While no one knows what will happen in real estate, studying the past allows one to make educated assumptions.
Why Predicting Is Difficult
As consumers have adapted to technology, they now search for comparables online to buy and sell homes. More sellers are selling directly, which means more buyers are buying directly.
Home buyers today do all their searching online but, until recently, had to contact a real estate agent to gain entry to a home.
The agent opens the door; the homebuyers purchase the house but feel the agent did little to earn a substantial commission. This is why real estate consumers complain.
An agent’s service has been reduced in value because the data is available from sources other than agents. As the industry resists, the complaints manifest in unusual ways. The $5 billion judgment against the National Association of Realtors is a prime example.
Here are some recent examples of the evolution:
- Knock’s company created a bridge loan to eliminate the friction of a contingent offer.
- Opendoor cuts out the real estate agent friction to make selling your home easy, fast and stress-free. They do this with a cash offer and hire the agents after you have moved.
- The PropBox, a company in which this writer has a financial interest, is a media advertising marketplace connecting home sellers directly with buyers to complete the entire sale within the platform for a small six-month advertising fee for an interactive webpage. PropBox represents a new alternative to an agent or for-sale-by-owner.
Two Scenarios
- A company environment with favorable hours, a customer service job description, no personal expenses, standard compensation, positive co-workers, platform rules that benefit consumers, no prospecting and more. They will no longer be real estate agents but customer service employees. They sign in to work when they want and sign out to stop. They work remotely with a company computer. These jobs already exist.
- For home sellers and buyers who want a white glove face-to-face service. These independent contractors do the 10 to 12 hours of work a home seller with the time an inclination does with onboarding, showings or sharing decision options from which the customer can choose. They will charge a fee independent of PropBox.