The Future of Realtors in France

In my blog over at New Bricks and Pantiles – I am taking stock about the work I am doing in selling real-estate.

I mention some of the techniques on the Internet which a buyer can use to search for a home and I say this will be soon available online from websites offering these services. Well today it is happening in the USA and every day more cities are added to the system. This post by Trulia  shows one super tool agents are beginning to use.

This street mapping is not in France yet, but the writing is on the wall. Unless agents in France get real about their commissions and operate a Multi Listing System, then they will be out of business because no one in their sane mind is going to pay tens of thousands of euro for what can be a few pleasant afternoons on a laptop.

Finding the perfect house should be as easy as sitting in a pleasant cafe, searching through all the listings from compilation websites offering a mashup of agents, owners and mapping services – then with some deductive software and directories, finding the address of the owners, emailing, phoning or skyping the owner (or their keyholder) you select and calling round to look at a property.

You can sort through hundreds of offerings in an afternoon instead of the stressful and wasteful four or five you are offered, often blindfold, by agents in France.

All other “services” offered by agents, mortgages, selecting a Notaire etc, can be done online while you sit by the pool and you can get professional advice and comparisons of rates while your glass is refilled.

The many thousands of euro you save in commissions will more than pay for the five star treatment you are giving yourself and you may still have saved enough to buy a new car.

Tags: frenchproperty, real estate in france, estate agents,