Tuesday 4 March 2008

Car vs property brokers

I purchased my car through a broker. I just gave him a description of what I was after, and in a day or two he found one for me. It was very easy and not at all stressful. It would be good to have that same kind of experience buying a house, but I doubt it would be possible.

The reason is that houses are much bigger purchases, they always require a complicated loan agreement and most of all the market is too fragmented. This agent gets some listings for this area while other agents get other listings or other areas. You can't just go to one agent and be sure you're getting the best deal or the best product, so you have to go to many. This increases competition among agents which means they become less discerning about who wants what. In the end, it just turns out a mess.

What we need is a proxy for the real estate agents who can gather listings and inspect properties in advance before making a recommendation. The trouble with that, however, is that sometimes the market moves so swiftly that any layers between buyer and seller are too inconvenient. You can't have an owner dealing with an agent, dealing with a broker who in turn deals with a buyer when someone else walks in with a chequebook.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Maybe it would work in some situations.
PPS - Like when you're only interested in a location, not a house.

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