REALTORS may not be at the center of EVERY real estate transaction but they are involved in the vast MAJORITY of them (around 80% according to NAR stats). The Internet has shifted transactions true, but the shift has been to change the REALTOR that gets the call from a traditional agent to an Internet savvy one, not creating lots of "empowered" potential buyers running all over town looking for houses. As for the Federal Trade Commission's decision being "devastating" to the real estate industry, if that were true we couldn't be doing the sort of numbers we're doing today. The online, paperless real estate transaction will streamline the process and make it quicker but someone still has to put the merchandise (listings) on the shelf, someone has to take the buyers to see the inventory, and someone has to do a lot more stuff before a successful closing takes place. I believe that someone has been and will continue to be a REALTOR. I think one reason for that is that buyers today REALIZE the value of working with an agent to qualify them, search out homes for them to see, take them to look, write the sales contract, arrange for various inspections and the many things that have to be done these days to successfully close a real estate transaction. Additionally sellers realize (even FSBOs because a high percentage of those that sell eventually give up and hire a REALTOR) to get the job done) that a sign in the yard, a web page, and a handful of computer generated flyers are not enought to get their house sold. REALTORS are still at the center of most real estate transactions today and I think we will continue to be well into the next millenium.

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