“60 Minutes” Targets Realtors’ Six Percent

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The ’60 Minutes’ report that the Realtors were bracing for aired tonight, and it was, well, the kind of story they should have been bracing for: a skeptical look at whether Realtors’ really earn their 6% commission, and whether that tradition can survive, and a very friendly profile of the online discount real estate broker Redfin.

The ‘pull quote’ (the most incendiary or memorable quote, the one editors ‘pull’ out and put into a mini-headline) was from Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman: ‘Real estate, by far, is the most screwed up industry in America. And we feel like things that Amazon or eBay or Yahoo have done of other industries, we can do for the real estate industry.’

Story pointed out the Realtors are under assault in the courtroom: ‘The Justice Department is now suing the National Association Of Realtors, or NAR, for adopting policies that are ‘fundamentally anti-competitive and harmful to consumers.’ The NAR told 60 Minutes those accusations are untrue.’

Oddly, no one from the NAR appeared on camera. Their choice? Not clear. Instead, the defense of Realtors was offered by a Seattle Realtor.