Can everything — including buyer agency — be ‘Uberfied?’
We’re now entering what I like to call “phase II” of the on-demand economy…
…up the ladder to higher-end professions. It won’t just be drivers and dry cleaning, but also lawyers and architects, as we’re already seeing.
But where are the limits of on-demand? The question came up recently when watching tech giants like Amazon and Google move into the biggest on-demand category of all: Home Services.
…But on-demand home services have proven difficult… just ask Homejoy (which closed).
On-demand vs Fee-for-Service in Real Estate
If a homebuyer is working with an exclusive buyer brokerage, are “fee-for-service” and “on-demand” the same thing? Maybe, maybe not — depends on what service the homebuyer chooses from an agency disclosure form (see state mandated form in Massachusetts).
If the real estate licensee is simply acting as facilitator, then non-agency services rendered the SAME DAY of the showing have a place when offered “on-demand.”
However, if the real estate professional is offering fiduciary-level buyer agency representation, SAME DAY showings and rushed offers are IMHO imprudent if not irresponsible. To paraphrase marketing guru Seth Godin who praised the Real Estate Cafe’s hourly fee model a decade ago, “‘On-demand’ could be the refuge of a DEALTOR or non-agency business model that has no experience or expertise to add value.”
Over the past two decades, our time sheets have typically tallied 25 to 45 hours, but those billable hours are spread out over months, often over years as shown in the image above — and nearly always PREPAID. If you’ve seen the movie The Big Short, you know why this graphic shows that patience is more valuable than speed:
- In declining housing market,
- During uncertain times (like before an election), or
- Negotiating with / waiting out the owner of an overpriced property.
Would you believe that nearly a decade ago, our goal was to help our buyer clients save six figures on every home they bought? Impressive as that sounds, it’s important to remember that real estate is cyclical and there was a time when three listings failed for every two that sold. Think speed matters in that kind of market? NO, over eagerness is actually counterproductive — especially this time of year!
On-demand vs Being proactive
Right now, some homebuyers in Greater Boston / Eastern Massachusetts are waiting for more inventory to come into the market during 2Q2016, but we’ve got proactive househunting strategies and special incentives that could help you save money on both the real estate commissions and purchase price.
From our perspective, that’s more valuable and credible than the “Urberfication of everything.” If on-demand services appeal to you, why not propose your own fee and rebate — one year, one in three of our buyer clients did. Want to talk about it in person over beer at one of our upcoming #REonTap sessions, or communicate via RealEstateCafe@gmail.com?
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