Real Estate

Interest rates for home mortgages are still at nice low numbers yet most home buyers and sellers are watching their pennies more carefully than ever in their property or residential real estate transactions. In response to this and other similar changing consumer trends in the buying and selling of property, some members of the real estate industry are offering a menu of "unbundled" services. So what exactly do menu-based, unbundled services mean for you as a home buyer or seller or even as someone involved in a commercial real estate transaction?

Unbundled services help real estate agents reach a broader client market. As a home seller you can now choose to take over such tasks as showing your home yourself, writing your own property marketing ads or just doing the small details like putting up and taking down the Realtor's "For Sale" sign.

When you deal with a real estate professional who offers a menu of services, (frequently called unbundled services) you pay for only those items you actually use. Realtors or real estate agents who offer unbundled services permit you to choose to handle any aspect of selling your property or properties yourself. Moreover, anything about your residential real estate or commercial real estate transaction that you handle yourself becomes money that stays in your pocket.

Options for the home buyer are changing as well. If you have not bought or sold homes in the last few years, you may be unaware of how dramatic these real estate industry changes have been.

Do you need to buy property in Seattle, but live in Miami? Put the Internet to work. The MLS (Multi-Listing Service) is the real estate industry's master list, categorizing details of the properties for sale in any given area. Only a few years ago this list was top-secret information available only to licensed Realtors and real estate agents.

Today, all the once-confidential fine points of the MLS are available on the Internet for buyers and sellers of homes and even the casually interested to peruse at leisure. You can easily shop for new homes (and sometimes even commercial real estate properties) from the other side of the county, during the middle of the night-even in your pajamas!

Prospective real estate buyers can search online for homes by price, location, number of bedrooms, age of property, or almost any other feature they select. Many residential real estate properties listed include virtual room-by-room tours or at least floor plans and color photographs of the homes' interiors and exteriors. While online, you can check information on property taxes, school districts, or comparable residential real estate selling prices all details once provided by real estate agents, brokers, or Realtors.

The real news here is, now residential real estate and commercial real estate buyers and sellers have a whole new array of choices to make their real estate properties transactions easier and less costly. With consumer access to once-privileged information, the ease of using online services, and the profusion of new companies willing to help people handle the tasks of buying and selling homes, the real estate industry is getting a genuine facelift. And the newly empowered consumer reaps the benefits, as do savvy real estate agents and Realtors who wisely see these new approaches as opportunities for them to focus on higher profit margin tasks.

But the options and opportunities of unbundled services are not limited to only traditional residential real estate and commercial real estate transactions. New doors have been opened in the timeshare real estate industry as well. Many consumers forget that the buying, selling, or rental of timeshares is also a real estate transaction.

When a timeshare resort property is owned by deed, this property is considered "real property". As such, timeshare resales transactions are subject to many, although not all of the same laws and protocols that govern any other real estate transaction. It also means that owners of timeshares as well as persons interested in timeshare rentals and timeshare resales, can benefit from the advances the Internet has brought to the timeshare sector of the real estate industry.

The company who originally developed a timeshare property no longer solely controls the resale, rental, or purchase of that timeshare. Instead, via the Internet, many newly-developed timeshare rentals and timeshare resales companies now offer the time share owner the opportunity to list his timeshare rentals or timeshare resales property as part of an online database. The company then markets directly to potential time share renters and to those who wish to buy a timeshare.

Before you enter into a contract with real estate agents or brokers, or with a company who deals in timeshare resales and timeshare rentals, ask specific questions about any menu pricing of services the firm offers. Ask them to show you demonstrated proof that they know their marketing efforts reach qualified potential buyers and renters of the type of property (whether it is residential real estate, commercial real estate, timeshare rentals, or timeshare resales) that you wish to sell, buy, or rent.

Talk with your industry professional about your specific needs. Ask which tasks you might consider doing yourself and if there are price breaks by purchasing some services bundled rather than unbundled. And before you deal with any company spend a few minutes researching their credibility, performance, and business ethics. Unbundling can save you hard earned cash, as long as you steer clear of disreputable or unproven businesses that take your money, but leave your property transaction tied up in knots.