The
way

Saunders
views
it,
today’s
consumers
are
more
savvy.
They
want
to
not
only
fully
understand
all
aspects
of
the
real
estate
transaction,
but
they
want
an
experience
that
is
personalized
to
meet
their
needs.

“2006
is
when


Zillow
came
out
with
their
Zestimates
and
with
that,
they
started
to
very
slowly
provide
to
the
consumer
a

more
transparent
way
of
understanding
the
market,
and
how
to
see
not
just
the
value
of
their
home,
but
also
what
their
neighborhood
was
doing
and
how
prices
were
going
up
and
down,”
Saunders
said.

Through
this,
Saunders
said,
consumers
began
to
realize
the
importance
of
staging,
photography
and
online
marketing.
While
she
believes
this
transparency
was
a
good
thing
for
the
seller,
it
harmed
the
buyer
as
many
agents
began
to
claim
that
they
would
represent
buyers
for
free
—
which
has
certainly
played
a
role
in
the

commission
lawsuits
that
are
currently
plaguing
the
industry.

“We
are
in
the
stage
now
where
we
are
having
to
play
cleanup
on
a
lot
of
different
fronts,
and
part
of
that
cleanup
is
actually
providing
a
service
to
the
end
consumer
by
way
of
brokerage,”
Saunders
said.
“So,
what
the
brokerages
have
done
historically
is
they’ve
made
all
their
money
from
the
80%
of
agents
who
actually
don’t
transact
more
than

two
deals
a
year,
because
they
pay
desk
fees,
monthly
fees,
technology
fees
and
legal
fees.”

Saunders
said
brokerages
rely
on
a
handful
of
“anchor
agents”
who
close
multiple
deals
each
month
to
uphold
the
business
side
of
the
brokerage.

This
model
worked
with
previous
generations
of
homebuyers
who
did
not
have
access
to
the
same
amount
of
information
about
the
housing
market
and
real
estate
professionals.

“There
is
a
very
low
bar
for
entry,
and
one
out
of
two
licensees
only
do
one
or
two
deals
a
year,”
Saunders
said.
“So,
that
means
the
vast
majority
of
the
population
didn’t
realize
that
they
are
entrusting
their
largest
asset
—
whether
purchase
or
sale
—
and
the
building
of
generational
wealth
to
agents
who
actually
transact
real
estate
less
than
they
get
their
oil
changed.”

But
as
consumers
have
grown
savvier
and
more
knowledgeable,
they
do
not
want
to
work
with
the
more
casual
agents,
giving
these
peole
less
of
an
incentive
to
stay
in
the
real
estate
business
while
continuing
to
pay
fees
to
their
brokerage.

“The
brokerage
models
have
to
adapt,”
Saunders
said.
“This
is
now
a
consumer
base
—specifically
Gen
X,
millennials,
Gen
Z
—
that
are
wanting
an
experience.
And
they
don’t
want
just
any
experience;
they
want
a
specifically-catered-to-them
experience.
They
want
to
know
through
social
media,
through
online
reviews,
who
the
top
producers
are
and
what
experience
they
are
going
to
provide
them
with.”

Although
Saunders
knows
this
may
be
a
difficult
pill
for
some
firms
to
swallow,
she
believes
that
it
is
an
excellent
opportunity
for
firms
to
innovate.

“We
really
have
an
opportunity
to
have
the
cream
rise,
and
they
are
going
to
create
their
own
very
unique,
very
tailored,
very
educated
boutique
brokerages
on
the
local
level,“
Saunders
said.

“It
is
a
very
exciting
time
for
the
best
agents
to
own
their
market
share,
to
capitalize
on
it,
and
the
brokerages
that
actually
understand
that
shift
will
survive.
The
ones
that
will
not
survive
will
be
the
ones
who
are
looking
very
simply
at
how
much
money
they
can
get
from
each
individual
agent.
So,
it
is
a
mind
shift.”