subject: Are traditional real estate agents on the verge of extinction? [print this page] Are traditional real estate agents on the verge of extinction?
The World Wide Web has actually converted a lot of people looking to buy and sell homes since its inception into the world of real estate. A staggering number of 90% of all homes sold are now done online through searches carried out by people just like you. The major real estate search engines that have contributed to this growth includes Zoopla, Find A Property, Right Move, and Right Location.
If the world of real estate is moving towards the internet, how are real estate agents able to stick around?
Simply put, real estate agents have always played a role in how this is done. If you're not a real estate agent, you're not going to be able to list your home for sale on these major portals that people are using to find homes to buy.
Does an online real estate agent do the same things as a traditional real estate agent?
The answer to this is yes. They'll still send out property professionals to take pictures of your home and compile floor plans of your home. The only big difference is that an online estate agent charges a lot less than a traditional real estate agent.
To be exact, online estate agents will charge a low flat rate while traditional estate agents will charge a percentage that could add up to thousands.
How are tours done through an online estate agent?
While an online real estate agent may agree to meet interested parties at the house to do the walk through, they can actually save a lot of time by providing video tours of every room in the house via the internet. They'll also list all of the pictures and details with the popular estate portals in order to promote your home to interested individuals.
What are the downsides of using an online real estate agent?
It's uncommon for an online estate agent to physically show up at your home and conduct tours, but on rare occasions it is possible. If they don't agree to do tours, you may be required to conduct them yourself causing you to spend a lot of time and expenses to make this happen.
However, this has happened many times when people used traditional real estate agents as they may not also be able to show up to their scheduled tours.
Will this change the way people buy and sell real estate?
While a definitive answer can't be provided, it is starting to look like the internet will change the world of real estate drastically over the next few years. This is basically the same change that has happened to many industries already and now the estate industry is in the cross hairs of the World Wide Web.
