Realtors Getting Kicked When They’re Down

Posted In: Housing, Real Estate Agents, Realtors

These days, I may not be so happy, after all
After all that I have gained
I still feel sad when I’m all alone
I may have felt that path? Decay?
I may not be so swift, after all
All the chances you have given me
I just let you go

-The Rentals, “These Days” (1995)

As if the times weren’t tough enough already for Realtors, I came across the following by Mick Weinstein on Yahoo! Finance:

Realtors, Kiss Your 6% Goodbye!

This week, the Justice Department and the National Association of Realtors reached a settlement in the antitrust case against the NAR’s monopolistic hold on home listing information. It’s a victory for Internet-based and discount listing services and another stake in the back of traditional brokers attempting to recover from this downturn.

And then it got ugly. Weinstein added:

Media expert Jeff Jarvis says this means good riddance to real estate agents’ familiar 6% commissions: “The only reason… that Realtors could hold onto their high commission for such little value and work is that they kept information away from the marketplace, making it inefficient. This new economy can now come to real estate sales as information become freer. Oh, it’s not fully freed yet. But I do believe that the combination of this settlement and what it does to empower discount players and the depressed real estate market will combine to finally shove dynamite up Realtors’ rears.”

It’s interesting to note that, according to Mary Umberger of the Chicago Tribune, the national median income for a member of the National Association of Realtors was $42,000 in 2007, down about 11% from 2006. Umberger noted: