Comments on: Sawbuck’s Marriage With The DMN?

By: marc

marc — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:22:42 +0000

@Gross!

Your comment is a classic defense used by agents when free market principles are applied to your commissions. Everything in life is negotiable. They should have taught you that in your real estate courses.

By: Gross!

Gross! — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:06:10 +0000

Nobody listen to that last suggestion. Do not negotiate rebates or lower commissions with agents. When you go to the dentist, you’d look pretty silly with half or a third of a veneer than the entire veneer.

By: marc

marc — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:28:41 +0000

I’m not sure how Belo/DMN will collect a 30% referral fee unless Belo/DMN is a licensed broker in Texas. If licensed, however, then why partner with Sawbuck Realty since they’d already have access to MLS data?

In any event, how is this helpful to the consumer? Belo/DMN could do much better by partnering with a local technology company like mine (based in Southlake) to add features which actually help the consumer negotiate rebates and lower commissions with agents.

By: Reality

Reality — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:42:10 +0000

Sounds like a desperate attempt by Belo/DMN to save their business. Have you seen the Real Estate section of their paper? Nobody reads it, brokers have caught on, combined with lower than usual sales that require spending cuts on their parts, so DMN is going into the real estate business themselves. Pretty sleazy. But typical Belo/DMN.

By: syd

syd — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:22:56 +0000

The Dallas News is terrible at Dallas geography – they have few natives working there who know the neighborhoods. Many of their reporters/editorial board members live out in ’subdivisions’ in the burbs (you know, the ones who have the high-minded gall to say which Dallas streets should be renamed).

So I certainly would not trust the source on this deal!

By: john

john — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:17:21 +0000

Couple of things here:

1. It’s not “79 out of every 100 adults in the USA is a real estate agent.” it is 1 out of 79.

2. This model is not brand new. It’s been successful in different markets already.

3. Their main benefit to the consumer is they weed through all the below average agents in the marketplace.

4. Just wait until google starts charging for Real estate mapping services.

Thanks!

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:10:14 +0000

Brokers here choose to share their information with the MLS — what if they decided not to share anymore?

Then those brokers, and the MLS, will fail and be replaced by a cheaper online model. Home buyer/sellers aren’t paying the broker to put a house on MLS, they’re paying (and paying way too much) for actual efforts at selling that house or finding the perfect new house. The worst thing the mass-market brokers could do to themselves is to reduce their effective market by refusing to share listing information.