Item — HN Reader

Of all the jobs to get replaced by AI, I would be happy to see realtors to be first in line (but I also think this is wishful thinking).

I feel like I get very little value out of what seems to be a mostly fixed/required price.

I know flat fee realtors exist, and if/when we sell our home, I’ll be looking into this heavily.

But I feel like they rank up there with car salespeople/dealers.

4 comments

I used a discount buyer's agent and it worked great! We viewed houses on the internet ourselves, went to open houses ourselves, and arranged showings with seller's agents ourselves. Once we had it narrowed down to two houses, we brought our buyer's agent to look at both houses, offer suggestions, and do all the bidding and purchase paperwork.

The realtor cartel still enforced a 6% commission, with half to the seller's agent and half to the buyer's agent. Our contract with the buyer's agent refunded half of his commission to us. So basically we got a 1.5% home discount. Our buyer's agent still made 1.5% but didn't have to babysit us while traipsing through dozens of potential homes, so it feels like everyone wins.

Yeah even our best realtor, who I actually liked and thought he did a good job (see other comment here) spent probably 1/3 of his total time on our purchase just hanging out or also walking around an open house. Such a waste IMO.

I did the same and outright offered 3% less and did not invoke buyer's agent at all.

Also when I sold my house (> 1M USD) 2 years ago I used $100 flat fee listing service and outright refused to pay anything to buyer's agents.

Both transactions went well.

Post-NAR settlement you would have to sign a separate agreement with your buyer's agent specifying their compensation before making an offer.

Here's a recent nytimes article in a quote positive experience using ai in place of a realtor:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/technology/sell-house-wit...

> All three bidders waived inspection and appraisal, and they all had healthy financing

> I was transacting in a thriving market, with no special circumstances

Yeah, a hot real estate market is where a seller is likely to derive the least benefit. Although a talented agent in a hot market can drive a more competitive process, potentially generating higher offers. All of which is, to the author's credit, highlighted in the article.

Agents earn their keep in more normal/weak markets.

YMMV. When we sold in 2021, our realtor connected us with an interest-free lender who put up $76K for repairs and staging. This, and other services, made the difference between our selling for $1.8M and the $2.4M we got. Maybe we could someday get similar service from a realty AI, but in our recent experience, the humans made all the difference.

Realtors are experts in the market. A good realtor pays for themselves by getting you the best selling price or finding the best home for your price range. If you don't understand opportunity cost, then obviously it appears to be a ripoff. But once you understand, it's clear that realtors have value. And realtors are probably going to be the last to be replaced with AI. It's all about value judgement and AI is garbage at judgement.

Also, it's true this article isn't recognizing the root cause, overpriced housing, because realtors in general do better when prices are high. But "realtors in general" is a very different category than "your realtor".

Realtors are indeed market experts (not product experts). Commission pay incentivizes them to close deals quickly, not to maximize sale price. Yes they can educate first time buyers that they cannot simultaneously get the best location, condition of the house, and price. Good realtors will ask their customer which two (or sometimes one) are their real priority and realistically match them to available listings. If you're moving into an area they can provide some local information although they legally cannot comment on schools or crime. If you've done this before, realtors mainly just serve as gatekeepers to a cartel and literally unlock houses for you to view.

> they legally cannot comment on schools or crime

Which for probably 70-80% of people, especially young couple with or considering children, are the top two things they care about if not the only two things.

I would disagree. Theres enough information readily available to be able to see what relative home values are, where the good school districts are, etc.

The only reason I’ve ever used a realtor is because I don’t have the time to deal with the contract/legal side of everything. Most would be better served by hiring an attorney and title company if your state allows.

But there is an adverse selection problem. Some realtors are experts in the market. Buyers or sellers have few ways to identify them accurately. Most of those ways amount to they themselves having good knowledge of the market.

It's the same problem as picking active fund managers.

The decade of zirp between like 2013 and 2021 created a lot of shitty realtors because anyone with a pulse could sell or buy a house with ease. The true value of realtors is in bad economic conditions where serious work is needed to market and negotiate.