Quote:
Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford
One other thing: with the recent TREB loss in the supreme court, we should see sites like Zillow pop up across the country giving everyone access to all of the info on the property, instead of having that hidden behind a realtor wall.
|
Some huge disruption coming to the industry and it is about adapting vs fighting it. I personally believe that the MLS database created by Realtors should be the property of the Real Estate Boards. Sales information is available to the general public at a cost of $10 per title (through land titles and not something Realtors have special access to).
I would like to know what everyone pays for a car on a dealership yet this is property of the dealerships and not made public.
The direction of the industry (from a Realtors side of things) is more and more online leads. I personally run most of my business from repeat clients and referrals however each year the opportunity to pay for leads becomes more popular. Zillow and a few other players have massive financial backings and basically build a website which replaces realtor.ca. They then have you sign up to gain access to the website and sell those leads to Realtors for big money.
Again, I look forward to what 3 or 4 of these huge players are going to do in Canada and how it will change the industry. Although a less than popular idea, it would be nice to see a real estate license cost $20,000 + per year. I think this would help the general public see a Realtor as more of a professional and eliminate those who treat their business as a side hobby. It should also be mandatory to put in some time as an apprentice under someone with experience.