Well, we’re six weeks into the biggest shift in real estate history. I’m talking, of course, about the requirement across most of the country (except in New York City) for buyers to sign “buyer representation agreements” before agents will show them properties.
The Wall Street Journal was breathless about the billions of dollars that buyers were going to save, because they could go out and buy a home on their own without an agent. Agents were panicked, thinking that their buyer-representation business would dry up overnight.
They were both completely wrong. What’s happened?
- Sellers are still hiring agents, and offering commission to buyer agents
- Buyers are happily signing buyer representation agreements
- 99% of all deals have sellers paying the commission to buyer agents
- Buyers are happy
- Sellers are happy
- The markets are functioning perfectly well
- Extra trees are dying because of all these agreements
All of this is to say that essentially business went on as usual. I can’t say that I’m shocked, except that I thought it would take a while, maybe years, for all of this to shake out. That it was going to have to get much worse before it returned to stasis. I can’t believe where we are. But I guess that people still wanted to move forward with living.
Perhaps you’ve been so busy living your life that you missed this big scandal, and the months of handwringing, and the ink spilled over the corrupt, greedy brokerage industry. It turns out that buyers still need agents and sellers still need agents. Go figure! People can’t manage this crazy transaction on their own.
We knew this all along. -Scott & The HRT