The massive digital transformation that the world is experiencing recently has caused a major revolution in how people shop, book travel tickets, and other daily life matters. However, the process of purchasing real estate is still largely resilient to this deluge of major changes. Digital transformation technology may make real estate broker job extinct. Will buying or selling homes and booking trips become fully automated in the future?
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The astronomical settlement in the United States between the National Agency of Realtors and Home Sellers helped open the door to new technology to restructure the role of real estate agents, as it has already done with people who work in other jobs, from the world of finance to travel.
There are some famous sites that provide real estate brokerage services to clients, such as Redfin and Zillow, which are two platforms for communicating between brokers and buyers online, but it is noted that the role of the real estate agent still exists when completing the home buying and selling process.
Settlement Changes The Fate of The Home Buying Process Forever
In a sweeping move expected to significantly reduce the cost of buying and selling a home, the National Association of Realtors in the U.S. (NAR) announced a settlement with groups of home sellers, it agreed to end landmark antitrust lawsuits by paying $418 million in damages and eliminating rules related to kickbacks.
The recent settlement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers could thus change the current business model of home buying and selling, where homebuyers and sellers face the prospect of paying their agents separately, rather than sellers paying a commission split between the two sides.
This in turn opens the door for new technology to restructure the role of estate agents, as has already happened with people working in finance and travel sector jobs.
Kevin Sears, president of NAR, said in a statement:
Although the settlement comes at a significant cost, we believe the benefits it will provide to our industry are worth the cost.
Do Homeowners Really Need a Real Estate Broker For Buying and Selling Services?
Digital transformation may impact the job of a real estate broker in the near future due to automation
The recent settlement has raised questions about whether homeowners still really need a real estate broker, especially given the proliferation of technology that both buyers and sellers can use themselves when buying and selling their homes.
The 2023 NAR report said nearly half of homebuyers began doing online searches for themselves without using a real estate brokerage.
Experts say:
The emerging behavior of homeowners is partly related to the often ambiguous issue of real estate agent commissions, as the automation of buying and selling processes with technology will lead to greater transparency.
Pointing out that the digitization of many real estate transactions will greatly reduce the costs incurred by both the seller and the buyer.
They claim that even though radical changes may occur, the one truth about the role of estate agents that will remain constant is that buyers will likely be reluctant to make a major financial decision without their expertise and professional support.
However, Thomas Piskorski, a real estate professor at Columbia University, told CNN:
I think full automation, like Amazon’s marketplace for buying and selling homes, is still a long way off.
Experts believe that the real estate broker must take advantage of technological progress in the world of real estate marketing in general to prove his presence to everyone, by working to develop his skills as a specialist in providing professional consultations in the world of real estate.
Agents serve a fundamental human purpose for clients: reassuring homebuyers about the biggest financial decisions of their lives.
The NAR settlement is mainly aimed at separating buyers’ and sellers’ agents. While home sellers previously paid a commission (generally 5% to 6%) that was split between agents, the settlement could put homebuyers on the hook for paying their agent’s commission up front.
Experts told CNN that this may affect how homebuyers think about using a real estate broker.
Source: CNN
