There was earth-shaking news in the world of residential real estate on Friday, as the National Association of Realtors agreed to end its long-standing 6% commission for more of a free market model. It’ll probably mean the entire real estate industry is going to be far less lucrative, and Zillow, for instance, lost about 14% of its value instantly, on huge volume.
You can see now Zillow is worth less than a quarter what it was a few years ago, and I’m sure it’ll just keep shrinking.
I’ve always thought the 6% commission was batshit-insane. Typical houses where I live cost $5 million. That means $300,000 in real estate fees, just for someone to hand you a stack of paper to sign (of contracts that no one in human history has ever, ever read…………….ever).
It’s simply preposterous, and I’m glad to see this shameless racket is being taken out behind the barn and shot through the skull.
