Nothing, except for the fact that I’m going to write about both of them here.
A couple weeks ago, I posted about Thomas Robinson, an accounting professor at the University of Miami who, through ancestral DNA testing, had been deemed the first American to be able to genetically claim to be a descendant of Genghis Khan. Well, it turns out that someone fudged the test. Robinson had first been informed of his relation to Mr. Khan by Oxford Ancestors of England. But, with induction into the Mongol royal house underway, as well as a potential movie deal, Robinson asked for a second opinion from Family Tree DNA of Houston. No Khan connection, said the Houston outfit; and a second British DNA company concurred. Which makes me realize: if I’m running an ancestral DNA company like Oxford Ancestors, it’s pretty easy to tell any customer that he is related to some warlord or artist or athlete even if he’s not, and the odds of him ever finding out — unless I have the misfortune to claim he’s related to someone really famous, and goes to the trouble of getting a second opinion — is quite rare.
As for the National Association of Realtors: there are at least three bad things happening:
1. The Department of Justice’s antitrust case against the N.A.R. is moving forward; settlement talks between the two parties have broken down — over the issue, I am told, of whether certain new breeds of real-estate brokers should have full access to the MLS system.
2. The Consumer Federation of America has released a report about the real-estate “cartel,” a report claiming to show how “many traditional real estate brokers, and their associations, successfully stifle competition, what reforms are needed to protect home buyers and sellers, and how these consumers can protect themselves.” In the Washington Post‘s rather entertaining summary, the C.F.A. boss called the current commission system “cockamamie” (a word you don’t hear enough these days), to which an N.A.R. official replied, “It’s clear and evident that they don’t understand the real estate business.”
3. I have been told by a heretofore reliable source that the House Financial Services Committee (Housing Subcommittee) will soon hold a hearing to explore the competitive (or anti-competitive) practices of the brokerage industry. “This is significant,” explains my source, “because this is the first Congressional action on real estate – dipping the toe in the water – in many many years (other than the question of whether national banks can engage in brokerage). Congress has for the better part of a century obeyed the National Association of Realtors’ instruction to allow the brokers to run the MLS system.”
FWIW, we’ve written in the past here and here and here and here about this subject.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Crap! There’s more than one breed of real-estate broker? We’re screwed!
“…settlement talks between the two parties have broken down—over the issue, I am told, of whether certain new breeds of real-estate brokers should have full access to the MLS system.”
Crap! There’s more than one breed of real-estate broker? We’re screwed!
“…settlement talks between the two parties have broken down-over the issue, I am told, of whether certain new breeds of real-estate brokers should have full access to the MLS system.”
I’m from a real estate family and I do generally believe that the real estate brokers, as we currently know will need to change. I don’t believe they will become extinct but a hybrid will need to emerge to complement technology. Internet car sales are further along but it still isn’t without issues.
The reason is that real estate is still a ‘high touch’ transaction, different from stocks and travel since you are dealing with a physical, costly, and immobile good. There is a fair amount of understanding of local markets, codes, and laws that needs to be adequately understood (I would argue that it isn’t adequate in the current environment). In addition there are layers of liability that must be dealt with. I don’t think that an internet wholesaler can accomplish all these requirements.
What we’ll see happen is a the new internet market process emerge with some shortcomings and have those filled in by existing agents to develop a hybrid model that makes up for each others shortcomings resulting in faster and cheaper transactions with higher volumes without sacrificing local presence and liability coverage.
I’m from a real estate family and I do generally believe that the real estate brokers, as we currently know will need to change. I don’t believe they will become extinct but a hybrid will need to emerge to complement technology. Internet car sales are further along but it still isn’t without issues.
The reason is that real estate is still a ‘high touch’ transaction, different from stocks and travel since you are dealing with a physical, costly, and immobile good. There is a fair amount of understanding of local markets, codes, and laws that needs to be adequately understood (I would argue that it isn’t adequate in the current environment). In addition there are layers of liability that must be dealt with. I don’t think that an internet wholesaler can accomplish all these requirements.
What we’ll see happen is a the new internet market process emerge with some shortcomings and have those filled in by existing agents to develop a hybrid model that makes up for each others shortcomings resulting in faster and cheaper transactions with higher volumes without sacrificing local presence and liability coverage.
Mein Gott! They are not only breeding but evolving into more than one species? There is no hope.
Story:
A woman in the checkout at a grocery store in California attempts to write a check. The clerk politely askes her for her California Real Estate Liciense. Confused she asks; “Don’t you mean my drivers liciense?” Exasperated the clerk retorts; “Of course not! Not eveyone has a drivers liciense.”
Disintermediation is steamrolling the entire real estate industry.
Mein Gott! They are not only breeding but evolving into more than one species? There is no hope.
Story:
A woman in the checkout at a grocery store in California attempts to write a check. The clerk politely askes her for her California Real Estate Liciense. Confused she asks; “Don’t you mean my drivers liciense?” Exasperated the clerk retorts; “Of course not! Not eveyone has a drivers liciense.”
Disintermediation is steamrolling the entire real estate industry.
“Disintermediation is steamrolling the entire real estate industry”
Can you point to any empirical studies that confirm that?
“Disintermediation is steamrolling the entire real estate industry”
Can you point to any empirical studies that confirm that?