J.R. Crawford, an agent on Vashon Island, Wash., said she had three buyers last year who made offers after taking virtual tours. Though each bid was contingent on a walk-through of the home, Crawford recalls that one buyer from Texas opened the door and said, "I know where I'm going; you don't have to walk me through the house."
That said, buyers should beware: The quality of the information and the tools on Web sites can vary dramatically. A USA TODAY test of 10 popular sites found very different results for available homes, prices and lenders. (Chart, above.)
For now, the vast majority of home buyers still use real estate agents, in some way, during the sales process. The Azadians said the good telephone rapport they developed with the seller's agents in Tulsa gave them the confidence they needed to put their trust in technology. They sent all their documents via express mail.
But fewer buyers think they need agents to supply vital information.
Last year, 69% of buyers said their agent was a "very useful" source of information, down from 72% the year before, according to the Realtors association.
Sellers, likewise, are doing more work themselves, from scheduling appraisals to holding open houses. As homeowners bear more of the labor, and agents less, many sellers don't want to pay as much for an agent's services. Rather than pay a traditional 6% commission, more sellers are saving money by using agents who provide a la carte services -- such as advertising homes on the Realtors' multiple listing service and filling out contracts.
These limited-service brokers are especially popular in high-cost areas, like the Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland region, where the typical 6% commission on the average-priced home of about $400,000 could cost the seller $24,000.
Which is why four of the top-10-producing real estate agent teams in that area offer a la carte services, says David Charron, president of the MRIS, the multiple listing service for the Washington area, the largest in the country."That shows the business is evolving," Charron says.
Federal regulators, however, say the industry hasn't changed enough.
The Federal Trade Commission has made the Realtors' multiple listing services in seven metro areas drop policies that hampered limited- service brokers. The FTC is suing one MLS operator in Michigan for rebuffing listings from limited-service brokers.
"There are more (actions) in the pipeline," says Maureen Ohlhausen, director of the FTC's office for policy planning.
The Justice Department, meantime, is moving forward with its antitrust case against the NAR. The Realtors are fighting back. They argue that the broker should control the information about the seller's home and decide how to share that information and with whom.
Competitive pressures, though, are shrinking the number of brokers who can afford to guard their listings from Internet rivals or a la carte agents. Just ask Re/Max International. It was among the firms singled out in the Justice Department's lawsuit as sounding anti- competitive by expressing fear of the threat from Internet-based brokers. Now, Re/Max displays all available homes for sale on its Web site -- even homes from low-cost Internet companies.
"The consumer is the one we really need to think of, and the exposure for their listing," says Kristi Graning, senior vice president of technology for Re/Max. "We encourage listings to be exposed on as many Web sites as possible. ... The data is already out there. Give consumers the data, and in exchange the consumer will give us trust and believe in our services.
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© 2007 USA Today. All rights reserved.
© 2007 Top Tech News. All rights reserved.
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