To all the agents in the house,
What changes are you seeing in your job, and how might the next 12 months be different from the last 12 months? Let's look at a few specific areas:
* Your day-to-day work life.
In an April OpenHouse, the majority of you who responded seemed ambivalent about whether an office was a thing of the past. Reduce office space, and close down brokerage branches, yes, but many of you expressed skepticism about a fully virtual work environment.
"Many administrators and agent teams want the professionalism of our office and not their homes," one Indiana broker said at the time.
There were also mixed feelings about open houses, leading to internal HousingWire discussions about whether to rename this newsletter, "Streaming video of a home." Some lamented their potential demise. "I've snagged many buyers and sellers from open houses," said a Denver broker.
Agents, how has your work, including where you work and how you show properties, changed in the last year? What might be returning?
* The low-inventory, high-demand market
A perhaps exciting turn of events when the market dramatically rebounded last fall, "low inventory, high demand" is an entrenched, grim cliche for many of you.
But National Association of Realtors' data on the U.S. median home sale price suggest the dynamic may be — ever so slightly — changing. In June, the median home sale price peaked at $362,000, according to NAR numbers. Prices have since stagnated or fell each month. NAR reported a $352,000 median sales price in September.
This dynamic could change more than slightly if homebuyer's interest payments on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages continue to rise.
None of this addresses the housing shortage, but, agents, I'm curious to know if it might turn away first-time homebuyers from the market and lessen overall demand.
* The one-stop shops
Rare is the national company in October 2021 who hires agents to buy and sell homes, and is only in the real estate business. If 2020 was all about brokerages asserting their ability to work virtually and supply agents with the necessary technology, 2021 has at least been partly about Rocket, Better, Zillow, Compass, eXp and several others trying to sell real estate, transfer and insure the property deed, and originate the mortgage loan for consumers.
How will these changes in company philosophies and models affect your jobs, agents? When a company changes, how does your own job change?
There are several other inflection points in residential real estate right now, including myriad developments with Zillow, and investigations into the National Association of Realtors. Agents, what do you forecast changing most?
Send me your thoughts anonymously to mblake@housingwire.com.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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