Previous research (Rutherford et al., 2005; Levitt and Syverson, 2005) identify and quantify agency problems in the brokerage of single-family houses. Real estate agents are found to receive a premium when sellling their own houses in comparison to similar client-owned houses. Given the homogeneity...

Transaction costs are thought to affect asset prices and market liquidity, but the direction and magnitude of these effects continues to be the subject of debate. In the single family residential market discount brokers offer to list a house for a lower price and thus reduce the transaction...

Using a search-theoretical framework, we study how a home seller's choice of whether or not to use a broker depends on different market conditions. We analyze the role that the broker plays in the house-selling process by examining the expected time-to-transaction, the expected transaction...