**Derek Overbey´s last blog post..If You Buy a Home in Nampa, Idaho, You Can Say to Yourself “What a place to live!”

As for the weather and buying homes, it has been my personal experience in southern NJ that plays a big part in activity of home buyers. It is a fact that carries over to the gambling industry, too. As an accountant I was told to track the number of sunny days in Atlantic City to help explain the increase or decrease of revenue. So, if a casino finds it to be a variable in business, then I think I can assume it is safe to carry it over to home shopping.

As for calling the number on the sign? I have met several people who used my web site to help find a home, yet purchased it by calling the number on the sign. But, I have no hard numbers to prove it to be a universal occurance. My writing is only an opinion, not a writ.

**Derek Overbey´s last blog post..How Much Detroit Real Estate Could You Buy for $50,000?

Locally, he provides home shoppers with more available homes than the big guys. But, that will not make them loyal to him. Many will find the address of a home on his web site and do a drive-by. They may print out several homes and then take a look at the street and a three dimensional look at the home. At that moment, while sitting in their car looking at the house, they will pick up their cell phone and call the name and number on the sign in front of the house.

That doesn’t mean the home shopper is a bad person. They like Jay or whomever provided them with the knowledge of the home, but they just naturally call the big number in front of them. They don’t mean to cause Jay a loss of money. They got the information for FREE. They have now come to expect the information to be given freely. Jay and other agents spend thousands of dollars to provide it, but it cost the customer NOTHING.

When something costs NOTHING, that’s what the person who receives it thinks it is worth. And, that is what real estate sales has become.

Don’t get me wrong. I too use the “free” services provided on the internet. Several years ago, I watched a relative buy a brand new car off of the internet. They got the best price, someone brought the car to them and gave them all the papers and an orentation of it. They never even stepped into a dealership. The car even came with a service package where the dealership would pick up the car and change the oil, etc. and return it to them.

No one is a salesman any more. They are all ‘customer service representatives’ being paid a few dollars more than the minimum wage. I no longer belong to AAA for travel and car break-down. I use the internet and my cell phone carrier offers a break-down service for $3 a month. Of course, at the current pay, I can’t afford to travel any where anytime soon.

When I stated in my first post that it was “interesting” and we are watching the back side of the horse disappear, I am not point fingers. I too offered a IDX on my web site for years, but the over lapping of MLS areas was not giving a complete picture. Customers would call and ask about homes on Realtor dot com or some other web site and ask WHY it did not show up on my site. That IDX link is expensive and for each MLS to provide the information becomes cost prohibitive to me.

If Jay and Franie can provide a service so that when they look at the company balance sheet it shows a positive return to him then great. I hope that they see a loyalty from all the customers who use his “free” service and that success is with them always. However, for me, providing great service has not resulted in providing adequately for my family. To me, real estate sales, as we know it, is gone.

We let the cattle out of the barn and then out of the holding pen to graze in the meadow. We did that so customers would see all our fine stock eating good green grass. But, the cattle wandered here and there and we did nothing to claim them as our own (see DOJ vs. NAR). So, for good or bad, I see the farm has changed.

I see a day when a customer can sign up for their own Supra Key to gain access of homes without an agent. A driver’s license, small $500 deposit and an email address will be all you need to see a home. No agent to “sell” you a home you don’t want (like that’s been posible for me and others). Soon we will have nothing but “customer service representative” who take down information and post to a web site. Seven, eight, nine dollars an hour to answer questions on the telephone until they ship those jobs to another country. When it is time to buy the home you will just fill out an on-line form that has your electronic signature and bam – you own a home.

I guess the good news is: we don’t work for Pontiac.