30 years after buyer agency movement co-opted, is stage set for long-overdue Consumer Movement in Housing?

October 28th marks the 30th anniversary of Ralph Nader's first speech to buyer agents.  At the time, buyer agents were the rising stars of the real estate industry because they were committed to protecting and empowering millions of homebuyer clients, particularly first-time homebuyers.  For the same reason, they represented a threat to the traditional real estate industry which leading consumer advocates like Steve Brobeck of the Consumer Federation of America called "an informal cartel."  Nader used the occasion to criticize the real estate cartel's attempt to co-opt the buyer agency movement by papering over conflicts of interest.  He call blasted dual agents and designated agents, calling them the "language of hypocrisy."  Nonetheless, within a few years, conflicts of interests were normalized in the real estate industry as traditional brokerages competed to collect both sides of the commission.  

Fast-forward to the pandemic-driven Great Real Estate Panic. Without checks and balances in the housing market, homebuyers waived contingencies and normalized overpaying for properties.  At the peak, 1 in 6 homebuyers paid $100,000 over asking price across Massachusetts.  Even before prices began to decline this Fall, 1 in 3 homebuyers already admit they overpaid and buyers remorse is running at 70% among Millennial homebuyers.  

How did we get here and what can be done to protect homebuyers from another boom / bust cycle?  Listen to this retrospective and add your own thoughts about creating a Homebuyer Bill of Rights and a long-overdue Consumer Movement in Housing.  Nader called for that 30 years ago, and a recent article in The Economist suggests that coming political storms might be an opportunity to mobilize a consumer backlash against the #RECartel.  

What's your take?

https://bit.ly/Detonate_BillOfRights

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