The real estate market in Australia has long been a very protected market.
Private selling has only accounted for approximately 2% of the total property sales.
This compares with figures upwards of 15% in some countries.
Countries like New Zealand, USA, Canada and UK all have quite advanced and mature real estate industries supporting private selling.
In Australia - agents are bemoaning the offerings of private selling companies.
They believe the comments and marketing is scandalous to real estate agents.
And it works, the position of the large property sites is to not allow private selling companies like the one I work for to advertise on their sites even though it complies with all the requirements, including being managed and operated by fully qualified and licenced real estate agents.
And why all of this aggravation you may ask.
It is simple, the majority of agents offer very little over what a private selling websitecan offer property owners.
If a property owner can access good exposure to buyers through the internet - and has a "for sale sign" they can be pretty confident they will attract up to 90% of all the enquiry a agent could hope to provide.
The result is they sell and save thousands of dollars in agents fees and commissions.
With more and more property websites arriving on the net - agents will not have the influence they currently have, especially in environments where the advertisements are free - such as the model with sites such as Trulia and hopefully soon Google Base.
Real Estate agents have to offer more services and specifically target customers "who simply want someone to look after it" People have choice - to cook at home or to eat at a restaurant.
To clean or to hire domestic help.
They should have the same choice whether they want to use a real estate agent or do it themselves.
And some people simply cannot afford the $10,000 it costs in agents fees for the average home in Australia.
Agents who want to continue in the industry need to substantiate the value they provide over a for sale sign and internet exposure, because now they are available to anyone.
It looks like interesting times ahead in the real estate market in Australia.
Private selling has only accounted for approximately 2% of the total property sales.
This compares with figures upwards of 15% in some countries.
Countries like New Zealand, USA, Canada and UK all have quite advanced and mature real estate industries supporting private selling.
In Australia - agents are bemoaning the offerings of private selling companies.
They believe the comments and marketing is scandalous to real estate agents.
And it works, the position of the large property sites is to not allow private selling companies like the one I work for to advertise on their sites even though it complies with all the requirements, including being managed and operated by fully qualified and licenced real estate agents.
And why all of this aggravation you may ask.
It is simple, the majority of agents offer very little over what a private selling websitecan offer property owners.
If a property owner can access good exposure to buyers through the internet - and has a "for sale sign" they can be pretty confident they will attract up to 90% of all the enquiry a agent could hope to provide.
The result is they sell and save thousands of dollars in agents fees and commissions.
With more and more property websites arriving on the net - agents will not have the influence they currently have, especially in environments where the advertisements are free - such as the model with sites such as Trulia and hopefully soon Google Base.
Real Estate agents have to offer more services and specifically target customers "who simply want someone to look after it" People have choice - to cook at home or to eat at a restaurant.
To clean or to hire domestic help.
They should have the same choice whether they want to use a real estate agent or do it themselves.
And some people simply cannot afford the $10,000 it costs in agents fees for the average home in Australia.
Agents who want to continue in the industry need to substantiate the value they provide over a for sale sign and internet exposure, because now they are available to anyone.
It looks like interesting times ahead in the real estate market in Australia.