QUOTE (JohnS @ Oct 7 2010, 03:15 PM) To quote a wise man, "Attack the point, not the person. Thanks." I wouldn`t say that I`m a sucker (but who would, I guess), but if you read my post again, you`ll probably notice that I never suggested that people market that way in the first place. Rather, I stated that CB would be silly if they went after CREA for charging more than you want them to charge, seeing as how others in the marketplace charge more for doing much, much less. Have a good one, all! JohnS
The reason the MLS works is because if the thousands of long hours both the listing agents and selling agents put into it. The MLS would still function fine without MLS.CA which is what most non realtors are familiar with. MLS.CA is just a tool. A small percentage of the public can piggy back on the hard work required to keep the system rolling just like a FSBO can go private on the same street and benefit from the sweat of the industry. A small percentage can piggyback by listing a propery for $100 with someone who moonlights in RE sales but the full service listing agent is stiil required to educate the seller as well as properly market, thinking you can take away the listing agent is just as silly as thinking you can take away the selling agent. You would not know this unless you worked in the industry. Another factor influencing all th is false euphoric speculation is the fact that Canada is experiencing it`s biggest BOOM in history....almost 15 years with a few small pauses and pullbacks and when this happens, selling looks easy and listing a property seems like a $100 venture. Canadians are riddled in debt and this bull market will change one day....simply not sustainable without some corrections and a flushing out period. The MLS and offices and system as a whole do not survive without both the listing and selling side. My biggest compeditor is a discount broker. They advertise "lowest commission" they work 24/7 even presented offers on their daughters wedding day. They take offers at any commish possible because they NEED to to stay afloat and pay for all the advertsing reqired to get the word out to stay afloat. They have been selling in the area and have been my main competition for more than a decade. I still charge 5% and get it. They need to sell twice as much, work twice as hard as I do. Charging a discount fee is nothing new, it`s been around for years and mainly in a false economy/boom like we have now. When the market slows or goes down they may go out of business like most of the discounters have in the U.S. This same ruling has existed there since 2006. Business as usual.
The System is expensive to run. It`s the people on all sides that make it work and efficient. The efficiency of the system is what maintains and gives properties their marketablility therefore their values. If you don`t believe me...try selling a property in italy where there is no functioning MLS....good luck getting a fair price. The system works because beause of the listing broker, the selling brokers, managers., administrators, receptionists, managers, infastructure on and on and on. If discounting was the way of the future it would have over ruled the top agents and offices by now. I still charge and get 5% and I am ranked in the Top 1% of the Toronto RE bord....the biggest board in the world!
For those that said in this thread that they hate us agents so much....let me ask you....why do you want to use our system so bad? Or Go get your licence and sell your own house and all the others for $100 bucks then we can talk intelligently about what`s involved. The reason a new licencee like Godfried. Stands up for the system is because he knows what`s involved.
Websites do not sell houses, agents and the entire structure working the system is what sells houses. If it was just a website, the internet would have taken over a long time ago.
