Remember all of the hullabaloo back in May regarding the 60 Minutes piece about the changes the internet is bringing to the real estate industry and how Redfin is an innovator and one of the driving forces and champions behind……

Is he a FSBO run amock I blame all of those get rich quick seminars for guys like that.

What most agents fail to talk about is that your job is really about “emotionally supporting” the descision the buyer / seller is making and constantly re-affirming to them that everything is o.k. when there is a problem, or that it’s “normal” for the delays, that the requested repairs should be made, the low appraisal is the actual value, etc. This is what I believe Ardell is pointing out.

But the real question is do consumers care? Are they worried about the amount of time or money you invested with sum of all your other clients? Probably not… and they are surely not interested in picking up the cost for the work and time you spent with “other” clients.

The good thing for agents is that Redfin probably won’t be the big winner in all of this… they are simply laying out the ground work for another more efficent, smarter company.

Just like Alta Vista, Northen Light, WebCrawler did not win the search engine wars… they only laid the foundation for people to understand that they NEED a search engine and were willing to use one and thus created the peoples DESIRE to seek the best option. Once consumer “accepted” the technology / practice / business model a better solution came out and win big, i.e. google.

Remember when bank ATM’s came out? How about “high cost” cell phones? Botteled water? Internet? Fax Machines? $4 dollar coffee’s?

Who would have thought about paying for “free” water, why would we ever need a phone in our car, why would I buy an expensive fax machine, when I can’t communicate with anyone else? Why would I subscribe to Compu Serve when nobody I now is on there?

The press Redfin is receiving and these blogs theards are only laying the foundation to consumer “acceptance”. Soon consumers will realize that there is NEED for these models (especially as many realize they don’t have enough NET equity to sell using an traditional agent) and some other company will come in and win big time.

Once the alternate / discount / FSBO models reach 40%-50% market share (currently at 29%) there will be a critical mass of consumer adoption and there will be no more “traditional” model.

Sure, there will be still agents who charge 3% per side and / or expect 3% per side but it won’t be the majority like now, just like the majority of people don’t shop at nordstrom or wear prada BUT do drink bottle water, use a fax, have a cell phone and bank using an ATM.

I agree 100%. The scenario you describe concerning the three attorneys would make me furious as well. I can only hope you didn’t give them more of your business.

It’s called customer service and I’ll admit that many attorneys don’t practice it well. The same goes for many professionals in many fields, including real estate agency. I’m sure you can think of an agent or two who was less than fun to deal with.

The one thing you overlook is the effect hourly billing has on the level of communication. When my hourly clients call me, it’s not to chat about the weather. They tend to focus on the business at hand. That said, the salesman in me knows that the value of a client who feels he has confidante rather than a mere attorney. When and where approriate, my monthly bill will include a generous dose of “no charge.”

To me, it’s all about providing an approriate level of counsel and charging a reasonable price. I would venture to guess that 400 to 600 emails goes far beyond what an average agent provides his or her client and far beyond what an average client should expect from his or her agent.

I will leave to the readers imagination the amount of time it takes to read and draft 600 emails and whether that is a viable estimate.