[rgbrgb]

In most places there's no real estate licensing law against the fee structure in question as long as they registered as a brokerage [0]. As an agent you can discount your fee as much as you want. At Open Listings we're actually operating a very similar deep discount model in California -- you find the home, make an offer on our site [1], then we have a digitally-enhanced agent team for advice, negotiation, and managing the close. The premise is that all of these great listing apps make house hunting (most of the work) accessible to non-Realtors but there's still some useful expertise we can provide in closing the deal, representing our buyer's interests, and making sure all the paperwork is in order.

Update: added sources

[0]: http://www.justice.gov/atr/rebates-make-buying-home-less-exp... [1]: https://www.openlistings.com/offers/new

[w4]

Of course - you can totally offer discounts. Hence Redfin's existence. The key, however, is that you have to operate within the existing licensing law. You can't just act as a low-cost intermediary. This makes any innovation surprisingly difficult, since you incur substantial costs associated with regulatory compliance.

For example, the vast majority of your staff that interfaces with your customers would need real estate licenses in each state you operate in (along with the tens or hundreds of hours of state mandated education to get those licenses). This is in addition to a company brokerage license for each state.

EDIT: Just saw your edits, and that you guys are doing exactly this - good luck! The industry needs more innovation. :)