Time waits for no broker, especially in the era of coronavirus — and that’s why a group of agents are trying to lobby StreetEasy to stop the clock.
The New York Residential Agent Continuum is behind the effort, Bloomberg reported. NYRAC’s founding chairperson Heather McDonough Domi appealed to the listings portal in an email calling the stoppage of days on market “one humane way to support those who support you.”
It’s not yet clear how StreetEasy, and its corporate parent Zillow Group, will respond to the request, but a spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company is “working to think through ways we can best support our customers, partners and the entire NYC community during this unprecedented time.”
NYRAC’s request comes days after the organization called on agents to stop open houses and in-person showings for two weeks. Another member of NYRAC’s executive committee and chief evangelist at Compass, broker Leonard Steinberg, released a personal statement on Instagram calling it a “moral obligation” for agents to stop in-person work. Their calls immediately sparked debate.
“Real estate agents both want and need to work,” Frederick Peters of Warburg Realty wrote in a Forbes blog, in response to NYRAC and Steinberg. “Agents can show responsibly under these conditions, and many continue to do so on behalf of buyers who believe they may have opportunity now, or sellers who cannot wait weeks or months to resume their sales plans.”
Meanwhile, appraiser Jonathan Miller who authors Douglas Elliman’s market reports, took issue with the idea that an unprecedented health crisis could justify reducing market transparency.
“Every participant in the market is aware of what’s happening, and that will be factored in,” he told Bloomberg. “It’s just baked into the market and can be explained by agents later on.” [Bloomberg] — Erin Hudson
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