Mar 26
How to Save $13,650 on Your Next House
The first era of the web was about digital interactions substituting for person to person interactions. Instead of going to a real store to buy something, you buy from an online store. The details and circumstances of the interaction don’t change much, they just happen online now.
The next era of the web will be about interactions that could never have existed pre-web. This is going to shake things up, destroy many old businesses, and give birth to many new ones.
Take, for example, Redfin.
They have an intriguing and aggressive business model. Instead of providing useful real estate information to consumers and then pointing them to real estate professionals like competitors Trulia and Zillow, Redfin is doing their best to completely remove real estate agents and brokers from at least half of a home sale. [TechCrunch coverage]
In short, Redfin will help you find a house online and then help you buy it without employing a real estate agent.
And here’s the rub: they refund buyers 2/3 of the buy-side real estate fee AND usually negotiate a lower sale price. On average this saves buyers $13,650.
That’s not pocket change. It’s an amount buyers will love bragging to their friends about. Unless traditional real estate agents are willing to change they’re going to get crushed.