More and more young people are choosing to bypass real-estate agents and buy and sell homes directly through online contacts. Multiple real cases show that the approach can save a sizable agent commission, but it demands a large investment of time and energy.
According to the report, some young people have completed home transactions through connections made online, with the saved agent fee working out to roughly 1,000 yuan for every hour of effort. But the savings did not come easily - from finding listings and negotiating prices to handling all the paperwork, every single step has to be done personally.
The emergence of this self-service transaction model reflects changes sweeping the property-brokerage industry. As more buyers and sellers try to bypass agents, the scale of traditional brokerage business is shrinking and transaction methods are changing. For buyers, it means genuinely lower costs; for sellers, reduced commissions. That said, handling the transaction process yourself brings considerably more hassle, making it best suited to those with ample time and a willingness to study the rules.
