Ok, Blanche (don't take this personally) but you missed the point entirely! Here's why: 1. The FTC Study has nothing to do about REALTOR participation in the transaction because SINCE the study it still took over 15 years for Buyer Agency to really emerge - so there was no rush to really protect any consumers, if you look at it objectively; and TOO MANY agents still routinely violate fair housing issues in their interviews of prospective buyers and renters; and MOST consumers don't get the "agency thing" whether they are the seller, buyer or other. They could actually care less if it existed - and for proof, notice that most lawsuits do NOT hinge upon who was being represented but who violated other portions of the law such as fair housing, opportunity, etc... As an added note, consider this: It will be not too long from now when Banks will be able to conduct "agency" - they have come a long way alread: conducting stock, insurance and other forms of brokerages they were once restricted from. Real estate will be the next hurdle - and then you will see ALL COMMISSIONS go away because the key to real estate profitability is the MORTGAGE not the one-time sales commission (evidence: ask any broker/owner how much "profit" is left from the commission over after paying all the participants and covering expenses, while the banks sit back and collect on the "transaction" for the next 30 years) So banks will simply hire agents to perform that "legal duty" and use their power to bundle financial services to really capture the consumer's spending - not to mention remove the stigma of "sales" from sales-agency... 2. Let's stop blaming the Internet as if it existed and did things on its own. IT IS NOT ALIVE. It is only the actions of INDIVIDUALS using the INTERNET that have made PORTALS impact the gateway-keeping-function of sales people. And the irony is: those VERY SAME SALES PEOPLE and brokerages either VOLUNTEERED to participate in these portals or were DUPED by those RUNNING the portals to give away their hard work (in either case, they cut themselves out of the transaction, not the other way around!) Why? Because just as consumers did not see any value in agency, BROKERS did not see any value in the "work" that agents put "into" getting a listing (in economics we'd call it an "investment") - so the brokers did not see any "value" in the time, printing costs, telephone costs, etc., that they paid for or agents conducted to GET THE LISTING (which becomes their "finished product") to re-sell for a fee to willing buyers. The problem is that everybody in the industry thought that the ONLY value came at the closing. Nobody considered the value of the PRODUCERS - only the CONSUMERS. The result - a terrible business model which resulted in the ultimate removal of the producers from the transaction model. Think of it this way: Now a consumer can pick a price (do their own CMA using comps on web portals) and then "put it in the database" themselves - so there is NO NEED for listing appointments, CMA pricing functions or even MLS systems to "expose" the property to the marketplace. And who made this possible? Not some mysterious "internet" but the brokers themselves who signed up for every portal and e-disintermediary out there! 3. About the paperless office: I'm not sure where the readers of this actually work, but let's take one state in the northeast (to remain nameless). It takes MONTHS just to get a purchase agreement back from the attorney - so paperless has NOTHING to do with it - it's the PERSON involved. If anything, the PAPERLESS OFFICE will enable agents to stay involved at LESS COST (no more printing, driving, mailing, fedex-ing, etc.) and higher final margins. If mortgage companies allow paperless online loans, it will make it EASIER, not harder, to close more loans - no more lengthy review periods, waiting for verifications, reports, etc., and agents can move more quickly through the closing to the next sale (witness how mortgage officers take loan apps now). If mortgage companies get the consumer first, who cares? Unless they can do what the agent can DO BY LAW then they HAVE to give them to an agent sooner or later (of course, see point 1 where that might change someday). Maybe agents will ACTUALLY GET REAL JOBS with mortgage companies and banks - you know, something that had NORMAL HOURS of business, health insurance, vacation time, a retirement account... For agents, this would undoubtedly be better than what they are doing now (if this seems like science fiction, ask yourself why). The key is to remember that none of these events "has to happen" - it is because brokerages PARTICIPATE decisions made by people whose self interest is NOT the same self interest of the agents and never ask themselves why. (Consider every franchise whose agency listing is accompanied by a COMPETING COMPANY'S MORTGAGE AD in the portals supposedly working for that brokerage - and the agent STILL pays for MLS services and probably PAID for their homepage, too: Talk about bleeding the producers! Why does this happen? Agents and brokers make such bad decisions because they think technology is still not that important (evidence: this week, a student in my class announced that she was convinced that email was gonig to be a "fad" like 8-track tapes!) They think that they cannot control the "internet", so they better join anything they can, instead of try to make it work themselves. Yet the real proof is in those companies and individuals who have responded to technology by using it to work smarter - but to support an intelligent business model that does not simply pander to every consumer wish or follow like lemmings every e-claim to e-gold... In the end, the best part of this transformative stage is that reality allows for no contradictions. All anomolies will ultimately be dissolved; those who participate in the bad business model will see themselves out of a role/job in the future; but they should be aware of who "did it to them" if they hope to perhaps prevent it. Just my two mega-bits worth... See you in cyberspace.... Matthew Ferrara www.mfseminars.com

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