Doing away with agents will harm interests of property industry

Posted under General by Jermaine

The current downturn in house sales and extreme difficulty in selling houses has led to FSBO (Property For Sale By Owner-s) approach, rise in advertising on property portals and sacking of agents, predominantly for sale of second homes overseas. These measures give greater exposure to property and enhance chances of selling.

But the approach seems to be taking a turn for worse for the estate agents. BBC has launched a series called Axe the Agent, about selling property without agent, in the UK.

Agents have been a major link in the house sales since long; it is difficult to imagine what will happen to property market if homes were sold without involving agents.

Without agents a situation where gap between buyer’s and seller’s expectation of price becomes pronounced, it will be unlikely to clinch a deal.

During boom, sellers were dominating market. They could easily turn away buyers hoping that some one will buy at the price dictated by them. This trend would lead to escalation of price. When the situation takes reverse turn and buyers start dictating terms, estate agent’s market experience would only help the sellers. Without estate agents, there will not be enough stability in the market.

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