Realtors have some good arguments. "We are experts, we are professionals with a huge amount of valuable experience." And it's true-- some really are experts, just as the traditional travel agents once were. And the experts are worth their weight in gold. But most real estate professionals are part-time, and anyone who has ever dealt with many knows that most agents really provide little if any extra value. And certainly not 5% of the deal value. Realtors know this, which is why 5% has suddenly become negotiable.

Internet-driven real estate companies are stepping in - Zip Realty, for example. Having been disintermediated by the market, Realtors have attempted reintermediation by legal fiat. But this tactic can at best only delay the inevitable: in the near future, you will buy and sell houses on your own. You will hire companies,

Well, you still probably buy and sell houses using a realtor, but probably not for much longer. The winds of internet-driven change have been blowing through every industry, ending traditions and creating new paradigms everywhere they reach. Real estate has been remarkably resistant to change thus far, mostly because of the power of the realtors' lobby and its death-grip on politicians. But cracks in the system are starting to let some daylight in, and once consumers get a sense of what they've been missing, there will be no stopping the stampede.

A moment of digression: in the 90's, I worked in the travel industry. Over the course of 10 years, I witnessed first-hand a huge upheaval in the business of travel. When I started, the travel agent was the gatekeeper... the source of information, expertise, pricing and tickets.

Agents claimed 3 primary advantages:
1) We are the source of information on flight availability and pricing. No one else has access.
2) We are the experts. No one else can tell you the best way to get from Wichita to Boise, and no one else can recommend the best carrier to do it with.
3) We are the ticket source. You can't fly without tickets, can you?.

Airlines went to great lengths to coddle agents, since agent support was essential to a carrier's success. Travelers also flocked to agents, often building relationships with particular agents who came to know their needs and preferences. Agents relished this position of power, and used it to command a 10% commission.

But then came the internet. The internet provided free information, as well as access to experts. The internet EMPOWERED the consumer. It wasn't perfect at first, but it rapidly got better. Budget carriers, and then all carriers, saw the value of a new distribution system and started moving inexorably towards it. Agents screamed and howled, but the game was over long before they knew it. As carriers gained control of their destiny, agent commissions started to drop. 10%, 8%, 5%.

It's now 10 years later-- when was the last time you bought a ticket from a travel agent? When was the last time you even had a paper ticket?

Does any of this sound familiar as relates to real estate? Traditionally, Realtors have been the information source. The negotiators. The deal-makers. They work the buy- and the sell- end of the deal, sometimes simultaneously. You couldn't buy or sell a house without one, and it would cost you 5% of the selling price, regardless of the time or work involved.

Think about how the internet has changed things. Suddenly, the consumer has almost exactly as much information as the Realtor (the only information he or she doesn't have is the info which the Realtors refuse to make available to the public, even though the consumer now has BETTER navigating and search tools). New companies have popped up which offer to handle the messy paperwork and the legalese. Slowly but surely, the Realtor is becoming an optional, rather than an essential, part of the equation. There is a 25-cent word for all of this: disintermediation. The removal of the middle man. It came to travel, and it's well underway in real estate.

Realtors have some good arguments. "We are experts, we are professionals with a huge amount of valuable experience." And it's true-- some really are experts, just as the traditional travel agents once were. And the experts are worth their weight in gold. But most real estate professionals are part-time, and anyone who has ever dealt with many knows that most agents really provide little if any extra value. And certainly not 5% of the deal value. Realtors know this, which is why 5% has suddenly become negotiable.

Internet-driven real estate companies are stepping in - Zip Realty, for example. Having been disintermediated by the market, Realtors have attempted reintermediation by legal fiat. But this tactic can at best only delay the inevitable: in the near future, you will buy and sell houses on your own. You will hire companies,

Agents claimed 3 primary advantages:
1) We are the source of information on flight availability and pricing. No one else has access.
2) We are the experts. No one else can tell you the best way to get from Wichita to Boise, and no one else can recommend the best carrier to do it with.
3) We are the ticket source. You can't fly without tickets, can you?.

Airlines went to great lengths to coddle agents, since agent support was essential to a carrier's success. Travelers also flocked to agents, often building relationships with particular agents who came to know their needs and preferences. Agents relished this position of power, and used it to command a 10% commission.

But then came the internet. The internet provided free information, as well as access to experts. The internet EMPOWERED the consumer. It wasn't perfect at first, but it rapidly got better. Budget carriers, and then all carriers, saw the value of a new distribution system and started moving inexorably towards it. Agents screamed and howled, but the game was over long before they knew it. As carriers gained control of their destiny, agent commissions started to drop. 10%, 8%, 5%.

It's now 10 years later-- when was the last time you bought a ticket from a travel agent? When was the last time you even had a paper ticket?

Does any of this sound familiar as relates to real estate? Traditionally, Realtors have been the information source. The negotiators. The deal-makers. They work the buy- and the sell- end of the deal, sometimes simultaneously. You couldn't buy or sell a house without one, and it would cost you 5% of the selling price, regardless of the time or work involved.

Think about how the internet has changed things. Suddenly, the consumer has almost exactly as much information as the Realtor (the only information he or she doesn't have is the info which the Realtors refuse to make available to the public, even though the consumer now has BETTER navigating and search tools). New companies have popped up which offer to handle the messy paperwork and the legalese. Slowly but surely, the Realtor is becoming an optional, rather than an essential, part of the equation. There is a 25-cent word for all of this: disintermediation. The removal of the middle man. It came to travel, and it's well underway in real estate.

Realtors have some good arguments. "We are experts, we are professionals with a huge amount of valuable experience." And it's true-- some really are experts, just as the traditional travel agents once were. And the experts are worth their weight in gold. But most real estate professionals are part-time, and anyone who has ever dealt with many knows that most agents really provide little if any extra value. And certainly not 5% of the deal value. Realtors know this, which is why 5% has suddenly become negotiable.

Internet-driven real estate companies are stepping in - Zip Realty, for example. Having been disintermediated by the market, Realtors have attempted reintermediation by legal fiat. But this tactic can at best only delay the inevitable: in the near future, you will buy and sell houses on your own. You will hire companies,

But then came the internet. The internet provided free information, as well as access to experts. The internet EMPOWERED the consumer. It wasn't perfect at first, but it rapidly got better. Budget carriers, and then all carriers, saw the value of a new distribution system and started moving inexorably towards it. Agents screamed and howled, but the game was over long before they knew it. As carriers gained control of their destiny, agent commissions started to drop. 10%, 8%, 5%.

It's now 10 years later-- when was the last time you bought a ticket from a travel agent? When was the last time you even had a paper ticket?

Does any of this sound familiar as relates to real estate? Traditionally, Realtors have been the information source. The negotiators. The deal-makers. They work the buy- and the sell- end of the deal, sometimes simultaneously. You couldn't buy or sell a house without one, and it would cost you 5% of the selling price, regardless of the time or work involved.

Think about how the internet has changed things. Suddenly, the consumer has almost exactly as much information as the Realtor (the only information he or she doesn't have is the info which the Realtors refuse to make available to the public, even though the consumer now has BETTER navigating and search tools). New companies have popped up which offer to handle the messy paperwork and the legalese. Slowly but surely, the Realtor is becoming an optional, rather than an essential, part of the equation. There is a 25-cent word for all of this: disintermediation. The removal of the middle man. It came to travel, and it's well underway in real estate.

Realtors have some good arguments. "We are experts, we are professionals with a huge amount of valuable experience." And it's true-- some really are experts, just as the traditional travel agents once were. And the experts are worth their weight in gold. But most real estate professionals are part-time, and anyone who has ever dealt with many knows that most agents really provide little if any extra value. And certainly not 5% of the deal value. Realtors know this, which is why 5% has suddenly become negotiable.

Internet-driven real estate companies are stepping in - Zip Realty, for example. Having been disintermediated by the market, Realtors have attempted reintermediation by legal fiat. But this tactic can at best only delay the inevitable: in the near future, you will buy and sell houses on your own. You will hire companies,

Think about how the internet has changed things. Suddenly, the consumer has almost exactly as much information as the Realtor (the only information he or she doesn't have is the info which the Realtors refuse to make available to the public, even though the consumer now has BETTER navigating and search tools). New companies have popped up which offer to handle the messy paperwork and the legalese. Slowly but surely, the Realtor is becoming an optional, rather than an essential, part of the equation. There is a 25-cent word for all of this: disintermediation. The removal of the middle man. It came to travel, and it's well underway in real estate.

Realtors have some good arguments. "We are experts, we are professionals with a huge amount of valuable experience." And it's true-- some really are experts, just as the traditional travel agents once were. And the experts are worth their weight in gold. But most real estate professionals are part-time, and anyone who has ever dealt with many knows that most agents really provide little if any extra value. And certainly not 5% of the deal value. Realtors know this, which is why 5% has suddenly become negotiable.

Internet-driven real estate companies are stepping in - Zip Realty, for example. Having been disintermediated by the market, Realtors have attempted reintermediation by legal fiat. But this tactic can at best only delay the inevitable: in the near future, you will buy and sell houses on your own. You will hire companies,

Realtors have some good arguments. "We are experts, we are professionals with a huge amount of valuable experience." And it's true-- some really are experts, just as the traditional travel agents once were. And the experts are worth their weight in gold. But most real estate professionals are part-time, and anyone who has ever dealt with many knows that most agents really provide little if any extra value. And certainly not 5% of the deal value. Realtors know this, which is why 5% has suddenly become negotiable.

Internet-driven real estate companies are stepping in - Zip Realty, for example. Having been disintermediated by the market, Realtors have attempted reintermediation by legal fiat. But this tactic can at best only delay the inevitable: in the near future, you will buy and sell houses on your own. You will hire companies, for a fixed fee, to market the property. You will price the property under advice from sites like Zillow. The miscellaneous fees which mysteriously pop up at closing will disappear, replaced by fixed-fees by transaction, negotiated upfront. You probably won't even have to have a traditional 'closing'. Just check the box on a secure website. Congratulations, you're the new owner of a house. The money has been electronically transferred to the seller's bank account.

It will be a brave new world, where gold Century 21 jackets will no longer be seen in your neighborhood, but will always be on display at the Smithsonian.