Perhaps most fundamentally, the industry suffers from systematic confusion about customer identity that prevents even well-intentioned participants from serving transacting parties effectively. While the true customer—the buyer, seller, or borrower— bears the costs of real estate transactions, the industry’s economic structure ensures that agents function as the de facto customer since the agent largely controls the transactional flow and selection of service providers. This creates perverse incentives that flow through every aspect of the transaction process and a systematic underservicing of the paying customer.

Brokers, lenders, inspectors, appraisers, and title agents must prioritize agent satisfaction over consumer value to ensure commercial survival. Consumer products like Zillow focus resources on agent lead gen tools—explaining why consumer-facing property search and transactional processes remain fundamentally unchanged despite two decades of unutilized technological advancements.