Don't know where to start with this ridiculous comment.
I figured that comment would wad up somebody's undies. Not an accident.
a Realtor offers professional services and expertise just like an insurance agent, lawyer or accountant. You pay for their expertise but if you don't need it then don't use it. Doesn't an insurance company facilitate transactions between a patient and hospital? Are they parasites too then?
Lawyers and accountants work for flat rates. You pay them a set fee in return for a set service. Insurance agents are parasites too, yes. They exist only to get you to buy more insurance than you are legally required to carry. I would prefer a world where consumers get to decide what level of insurance they want, and they could buy it directly from insurers. Insurance agents are just middle men who take the buyer's money without providing any tangible benefit. Parasites.
Now I can get a forum member who's an insurance agent all riled up, too.
Realtor's motivation is to screw the buyer - patently false statement.
A realtor makes more money if he can convince the buyer to overpay for the house. How is that not screwing the buyer? Fiduciary duty is clearly a joke in cases where the agent is working on commission, because by the very definition of the contract the agent's financial incentives are at odds with the buyer's incentives.
But you seem to think that the world would be better off with no Realtors.
Yes, I do. I think most business transactions would be improved by reducing the number of middle men. Ideally, a property sale would be shepherded by a single RE professional, preferably a lawyer since the obligation is primarily a legal one, who provides that service for a flat fee (like most lawyers) and thus has no incentive to defraud either party.
As for the MLS, there are a number of websites that already do a better job than the MLS without charging exorbitant fees to realtors. In addition to being free to use they are also better designed, more comprehensive, faster to use, and provide a ton of services that the MLS does not. There is absolutely no reason for the MLS to exist anymore, except that it is making somebody money (by taking it from buyers the agents is supposedly representing with that hilarious fiduciary responsibility).
In a real estate transaction, the agent makes money. The appraiser makes money, the inspector makes money, the title insurance company makes money, the escrow company makes money, the lending institution makes money, even the home insurer makes money. Of all of these people, only the agent has such an obvious conflict of interest because only the agent gets paid more by convincing the buyer to overpay. The buyer is the source of all funds in the transaction, so essentially all of those people are making money off of the buyer. I'm fine with that if their fees are commensurate with their services.
But like I said before, buying a $50k house and a $500k house are essentially equal amounts of paperwork. Why should an agent make ten times as much for one as for the other?