Michael Wurzer There’s an excellent conversation going on over at agentgenius regarding local versus national MLS, consumer access to listings, and the value (or lack thereof) of listing aggregators. In the midst of this is a post by the XBroker dissecting the value of real estate agents and several posts regarding Redfin’s new features. Let’s see if I can pull all these together.
First, the agentgenius wave of posts and comments illuminate for the participants that there is a difference today between the MLS agents use and advertising listing portals focused on consumers. Second, Redfin is proving that these hitherto disparate worlds are merging into something new. Third, the contrast of Benn Rosale’s rant with the XBroker’s, illuminates that the value agents bring is in making a market for real estate.
At least that’s how I interpret Benn’s post. The agents are on the ground, in the field, representing homeowners. That’s the curious thing about markets, made up of many individuals making many decisions for themselves, creating a whole leaning toward efficiency. That’s the value I see agents bringing to the table. This is backed up by Redfin, which is a participant in the market, bringing their own offer, seeking (and getting) acceptance. There you have it, an offer accepted is a contract and many contracts make markets, which bring efficient value.
Postscript: I should have mentioned this post earlier, but it’s highly, highly relevant here, from the BlueCollar Agents over at Redfin: Why Sergey and Larry would have a hard time with Trulia and Realtor.com.