Times are changing: the buying coach

No real estate agent, but buying a house without any worries. That is the new motto of J-oost de Aankoopcoach. Due to robotization, it is expected that 97% of real estate agent jobs will disappear in the near future. Are real estate agents, who are often expensive, still relevant today?

The real estate landscape has undergone unprecedented change over the past five years. For example, Huispedia recently introduced the option for owners to list their homes online with photos even before the property goes on sale. They call this ‘Open for interest’. Interested parties can then make an offer before the property is listed on Funda. This is an incredible game changer. But what does this mean for Funda's (NVM) monopoly position?

Speaking of Funda. Funda is there for real estate agents, and less for consumers. It is part of the NVM, the largest real estate association in the Netherlands. Huispedia.nl and https://woningstats.nl/ already provide much more interesting purchasing information for consumers. There is still a lot to be gained here, and more and more companies are now jumping into this gap, making consumers increasingly well-informed.

However, under threat of additional government regulations, real estate agent associations have decided to make the bid log mandatory for real estate agents affiliated with these associations starting in 2023. Please note: real estate agent is a liberal profession. Therefore, there may be real estate agents who are not subject to this obligation. At the time of expiry of the resolutive conditions, this log provides bidders with information about what the other bids were on the property in question. You can request this information from the selling agent. This means that you can now gain more insight into the sales situation of the properties you have bid on faster than ever before.

It is expected that 97% of real estate agent jobs will disappear in the near future. The number of AI companies diving into this gap is already enormous. Many tasks can be automated or easily researched using AI, even by consumers. Property valuation reports are already available, and mortgage lenders are already using desktop appraisals, which means that the appraiser no longer needs to visit the property.

A final important factor is the government, which has implemented many legislative changes in recent years. This has significantly increased the regulatory burden on real estate agents and the housing market, putting additional pressure on the services level. Combined with an overheated housing market, this inevitably leads to a decline in quality at some real estate agencies, especially if they fail to innovate. For example, the regulatory changes in the rental market have led to a huge increase in demand for owner-occupied homes in the starter segment. It also complicates the advice for people who buy a home and may want to rent it out later. It is increasingly becoming specialist work in certain areas. What (qualitative) role does the real estate agent still have here?

Disadvantages robotization

My own experience with property valuation reports is that currently, only one in three is accurate. Unfortunately, this means that two out of three are still too far off the mark. So you can't rely on them blindly, depending on the purpose. Buying a property based on such a report is risky. It does provide useful input, however. And for a very standard type of home in a particular neighborhood, it can certainly save a lot of time and money and be very useful for making an offer. But especially if a real estate agent has not seen the home, it is possible to offer too much or too little, as has been proven many times in practice. A thorough check of each home is therefore still necessary. For a mortgage application assessment, this is apparently different. The interesting question is how quickly these reports will become more reliable. We are keeping a close eye on developments. For you as a buyer, I recommend checking the properties sold in the neighborhood yourself and, if you choose a real estate agent, always choose one who has seen the property. Unfortunately, this does not always happen, and the results are well known. Would you like support with this? Then book a bidding strategy session.

Another disadvantage is the reduction in the personal approach and the chance of getting high-quality answers to your questions, which have recently been tested on the market. For example, a real estate agent knows how heated the market is because he is working in this market every day. Experience shows that CBS statistics are often 3-6 months behind. In addition, there can be significant local differences. In the neighborhood on one side of the railroad tracks, the housing market may still be doing very well, while on the other side of the tracks, demand is already declining significantly. This may be purely due to the location being further from the city center, for example. As a buyer, you can easily overcome this by keeping a close eye on how popular the homes you have visited are.

Conclusion

Everyone will have their own opinion on this, but we believe that now is the ideal time for consumers to take matters into their own hands. For people who don't want a real estate agent but still want to buy a house without any worries, real estate agents seem outdated. It is a very interesting time in the real estate market. In any case, it is a moment for Makelaar J-oost to cease operating as a real estate agency and to take on a more supportive role for future homebuyers, rather than a more directive one. For a fraction of the price of a real estate agent, buying a home becomes considerably cheaper and more accessible for consumers.