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The internet may have entered more aspects of a real estate<\/a> transaction over the past decade, but consumers haven\u2019t abandoned their desire for a real estate professional\u2019s assistance, according to Steve Murray, president of the consulting firm Real Trends, who has been tracking for 40 years how real estate agents<\/a> conduct their jobs. In fact, consumers are willing to pay even more for real estate agents\u2019 services. The average real estate commission paid to real estate agents has risen slightly since 2005, according to Murray.<\/p>\n Read more<\/strong>: Make Prospects Choose You Over the Internet<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Real estate agent<\/a> jobs have stayed firm, while the internet has disrupted other industries, like travel agents and stock brokers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a shred of evidence that the internet is having an impact,\u201d Murray says.<\/p>\n The internet may have changed how agents work\u2014like in automating several tasks–but it hasn\u2019t taken their jobs, he adds. The number of real estate professionals has increased 60 percent in the past two decades, Murray notes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the opposite of what so many predicted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe industry was fearful of the internet,\u201d says Leonard Zumpano, a retired finance professor at the University of Alabama\u2019s Real Estate Research Center. \u201cThey didn\u2019t think they\u2019d have jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly enough, real estate agents nowadays stand to earn more in commissions than in the pre-internet era\u2014adjusted for inflation too\u2014due to stable commission rates and surging home values, The Washington Post reports. In 1997, the standard commission on a median-priced U.S. home was $16,600, adjusted for inflation. The commission today averages $20,131.<\/p>\n Experts speculate the reason why real estate professionals have survived against the internet is that a home sale<\/a> can be a complicated financial transaction that happens only every decade or so for consumers. It can be intimidating so consumers seek the human-to-human help of an agent to guide them through it.<\/p>\n Associations and companies are promoting the value of a REALTOR\u00ae in messaging. For example, Century 21 is running ads with the line: \u201cGood luck, robots\u201d \u2026 \u201cthere\u2019s no robot for insight or hustle or a handshake.\u201d Also, the National Association of REALTORS\u00ae has taken on some unconventional advertising recently. Last year, NAR made a deal with the ABC sitcom \u201cModern Family\u201d to have an episode where the character Phil Dunphy highlights his role as a licensed REALTOR\u00ae.<\/p>\n Eighty-nine percent of home sellers used a real estate professional in 2016, which follows the last five years of data. For-sale-by-owner transactions have fallen to the lowest rate since the association began tracking in 1981\u2014at 8 percent.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is going to write a contract? Fill out a disclosure statement? Anticipate what\u2019s coming on the market?\u201d asked NAR President Bill Brown. \u201cThere\u2019s a human element to buying and selling a home that can\u2019t be replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: \u201cThe Real Estate Industry Has Something the Internet Can\u2019t Offer<\/a>: The Human Element,\u201d The Washington Post (March 17, 2017)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n [ad_2]\n
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