Adam Shostack blogs a New York Times article, The Last Stand of the 6-Percenters? that describes how online real estate listings such as RedFin, ZipRealty, and BuySideInc.com, are letting home buyers find houses to buy without using real estate agents; needless to say, said agents are not happy about likely losing their traditional 6% commission. So yet another confusopoly, as Scott Adams calls companies that deliberately use secrecy and confusion to hide differences in products so customers have to use experts to purchase, bites the dust, like traditional stock trading, car sales, and even to some extent telephone services and insurance.

I predict the agents who learn how to use such listings to do more volume at lower commissions will thrive and prosper; I can think of a few specific examples. Those who stonewall against the new paradigm won’t do so well.

-jsq