Brokers Fiddle as Real Estate Burns

Wednesday, September 28th, 2005

Alan Murray objects to realtor commissions in Brokers Fiddle as Real Estate Burns:

There are more Realtors out there today — 1.2 million — than there were a decade ago.

Compare that with what happened to stockbrokers, a similar breed who saw their commissions fall from dollars to pennies over the course of three decades. Or look at the even more dramatic fate of travel agents, whose commissions on airline travel plummeted from 12% to nothing between 1995 and 2002.

In an age when information was scarce, Realtors could claim big commissions, because they controlled the gold — the information on houses for sale. But in an age when information is ubiquitous, it’s hard to understand how they continue to rake in such fees.

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