Tech threatens US property agents' commissions

Washington

MANDIE Sellars, a homeowner in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina, had the misfortune of buying a home and then almost immediately getting a new job about an hour from her new home.

Not only did she want to avoid paying commissions to sell the home she just bought and to buy another, but the market was also hot in the area where she wanted to live. "I knew I needed to move fast, and so when I saw a property online that I liked I contacted a company called SoloPro," says Ms Sellars. "Twenty minutes later I was in the house with an agent and two hours after that I made an offer. My offer was accepted by 5pm that day after the home had been shown 17 times."