Disruption in Real Estate
The agreement effectively will destroy the current homebuying and selling business model, in which sellers pay both their broker and a buyer’s broker, which critics say has driven housing prices artificially higher.
By some estimates, real estate commissions are expected to fall 25% to 50%, according to TD Cowen Insights. This will open up opportunities for alternative models of selling real estate that already exist but don’t have much market share, including flat-fee and discount brokerages.
Source. This is one the best news in terms of the housing market. The realtor’s job is something that needs to be eliminated. For every good realtor who does their job well, there are ten others who simply skate by doing the absolute minimum or, thanks to a roaring housing market, nothing at all. There is a high chance of a realtor being unqualified for pretty much any other job and still will be passable in showing off houses to make an above-average living. They pass off the more technical details to their office staff, who I’m sure are paid a pittance.
Realtors are also primarily responsible for housing segregation and often steer people of color away from predominantly white people, so don’t expect me to shed any tears when a million or so realtor jobs are lost. I hope they have made enough to buy strong bootstraps to pull themselves up by.