December 21, 2007

HP Open Thread to talk about how disgusted you are with realtors and mortgage brokers

Crack dealers


Child pornographers

Pedophile priests

Pimps

realtors


Mortgage brokers

After this whole thing melts down, and people are disgusted by real estate, right or wrong the realtors and mortgage brokers are going to take most of the blame. Sure, there's probably some nice and honest folks hidden amongst 'em. But as a class, these two professions are doomed.

Their commission-fueled lies and bad behavior these past few years will not be forgotten soon.


16 comments:

Frank R said...

Just go to any realtor license class and look at who's in there. 90% are bored housewives who have nothing else to do and have been brainwashed by feminists that if they don't have a career, they are worthless, so they pick the easiest joke of a job they can find - realtor.

Since they're already being supported by husbands, they don't give a rat's ass if they make any money (they won't) so realtor is the ideal job for them.

Mortgage brokers are a different breed - they are only in it to make money. They're like snake oil salesmen, always jumping on the latest get-rich-quick bandwagon. They want to make the most money for doing the least amount of work and providing the least amount of value. That kind of "wealth" can never endure - if you're not producing something of value, be it a product, service, or otherwise, you will crash & burn.

To you communists/socialists who badmouth free markets, please realize that the demise of realtors and mortgage brokers is the free market weeding them out and flushing them down the toilet.

"Get rich quick" schemes (such as the mortgage & realtor 'professions') can never endure in a free market economy. Sure, they'll come and go, but they will never endure. The people who participate in them will *always* crash and burn.

And the bigger the ride up, the bigger the crash. Like prison for the big riders like the Orange One.

Anonymous said...

I doubt realtors and other REIC members (and/or sex workers) will be as reviled as you think, Keith.

I've lived through 3 bubbles/busts, and it seems people always curse the ground they walk on for awhile afterwards (ESPECIALLY if they felt like they were sold a bill of goods at the tail-end of the bubble, with promises of gains, etc), but then just as many get over it, and forget about the crimes committed during the previous cycle as the market ramps up once again.

Maybe it's human nature, but the wanna-be Trumps realize there's profits to be had, and see the agents/brokers as a necessary evil, a partner in crime when there's loot to be pilfered. No one cries foul when they're making a fast buck in fat times...

As a kid during the early 1970's, I remember this one RE agent who listed my parent's house; the guy was a real piece of work, a consummate cheeseball, complete with fake dyed hair, cheap poly suits, etc. The thing that really stuck with me was a line he prefaced most of his comments with: "I don't mind telling you".

To this day, I still don't get it: why would you tell someone things that you minded telling them? Why do you need to tell people you don't mind telling them something, as well? Isn't that obvious and implied, unless you're a dishonest person at heart, a faker?

Anonymous said...

Liars and thieves.
Have a nice day.

Anonymous said...

I know some of these realtors and mortgage brokers, and they make me sick. They actually think they add value to the housing industry. And ALL of them I've encountered think that just because they are "in the business", everybody should just believe their lies. I've had some pretty good arguments with these liars and thieves. The ones that were friends before, no longer are.

Anonymous said...

Here's a true story:

I had a friend that was a mortgage broker. At the time, I had been living in my house for about a year, but had to move for a new job. I decided to sell the house, no realtors involved of course. I figured I'd put my best price on it, and if it sold, great...if not, I'd hold it for a while. Well, unfortunately, this 'friend' decided to buy the house. I say it was unfortunate simply because had I simply held the house, I would have benefited financially. Anyway, I actually came up with an even better deal for my 'friend', and we did the transaction.

I moved, lived in another area for a couple years, then decided its not for me and I want to go back to the area I had moved from. Now, this 'friend' has in the mean time become a realtor. 'Friend' finds out that I'm back and wants to sell the house back to me. I'm interested. Prices have gone up in the time I've been gone, but 'friend' wants to absolutely rape me on the price...well over even the overpriced comps. I say no thanks. Then 'friend' bugs the shit out of me to use their realtor services to find another house, even after telling them I have no need for any realtor. This POS was using every line in the NAR playbook. Every single line.

At this point, its pretty clear that this person is all about money...they'll lie, cheat, and steal from anybody to get it. I got kind of shitty and made it known how I felt. Fast forward a bit, and would you believe this? This piece of shit has the nerve to contact me asking if I, and I quote, "want to rent my old house back". WTF? I didn't even respond, although I kind of wish I had at least acted interested long enough to find out what ludicrous amount the rent is. I'm currently renting, for less than 10% of my income, and this POS thinks I'm dumb enough to get assraped.

I've personally encountered plenty of others in the REIC like this, and its obvious how these people in general have created the mess we're in. To be blunt, I wouldn't piss on one of 'em if they were on fire.

Anonymous said...

"Day Trader" = Real Estate Agent

Failure, (no)Shame and Doom are essential characteristics for success in George Bushs' America.

All but SIX...

Anonymous said...

I didn't blmae e-trade when I lost my shirt in 2000 by being stupid and buying .coms at the peak.

Blaming realtors or mortgage brokers is the same. It is a victim mentality thing to do. Oh it wasn't my fault I make $20K a year and bought a $800K house, my mortgage broker made me do it.

BULLSHIT.

Anonymous said...

On your list of POS professions, don't forget the tellers at your local bank who try to get you to put money in their ridiculously low return C of Ds. And the Stock Broker who is always trying to get me to "churn" my holdings.
How about that A**hole clown at the carnival trying to get me to buy balloons for my kids.
But the worst-- ABSOLUTE WORST-- is that POS at the fast food drivethru who tries to get you to "Supersize" your order.

consultant said...

The mortgage companies and real estate agents are just one sign of what the American economy has become-one giant movable Ponzi scheme.

Most of us feel vulnerable, because most of us are.

The past 30 years, all we've done is roll from one grand swindle to another. Each one was bigger than the last.

From the S & L scandals to our current fiasco, all of them were national in scope, involving private and public agencies. Each in their own way chipped away at trust. A condition that is absolutely essential for a modern economy (actually any economy).

All of our important institutions have been severely damaged by the erosion of trust. So called leaders have allowed criminality, incompetence and indifference to take over the critical institutions that manage our daily affairs.

Lets just face it, HousingPanic and similar blogs wouldn't exist if we hadn't become a 'Gangster Nation'.

Anonymous said...

I love to low-ball, but my Realtor always tries to get us to offer more.

He always trys to justify it by saying "He has to work with these people" (meaning the Seller's RE agent)

This is in NoVa (Northern Va, DC subs for those of you who don't know)

Market here is tanking but eveyone is still in denial, including my Realtor !!!

That's OK, cause I'm not buying now anyhoo, WAY too soon - just looking & stringin' him on a bit!!

Gotta give him something to do, ya know!

Anonymous said...

I have never met an honest realtor.
We’re all very nice and say that ‘most realtors are liars’ but there are some good ones.
It’s like when I hear ‘not all Muslims extremists’. I’ve never met a Muslim that was not an extremist.
All realtors do what it takes to make the sale, and make a commission.
All Muslims are extremists, some are insane and violent and some speak softly.

Anonymous said...

I didn't blmae e-trade when I lost my shirt in 2000 by being stupid and buying .coms at the peak.

Blaming realtors or mortgage brokers is the same.


ETrade didn't lie to you about the costs of trading or tell you that stocks always go up. There is no collusion between the stock brokers to charge everyone 6% of each trade.

The realtors and mortgage brokers are more like the boiler room pump & dump shops. They are like the Frank Quattrone, Abby Joseph Cohen, and Jack Grubman who were pumping the vaporware stocks, Enron and WorldCom right into bankruptcy.

Anonymous said...

The realtors and mortgage brokers are more like the boiler room pump & dump shops. They are like the Frank Quattrone, Abby Joseph Cohen, and Jack Grubman who were pumping the vaporware stocks, Enron and WorldCom right into bankruptcy.

December 21, 2007 3:37 PM

------

Whatever. They are salesmen. If you are foolish enough to believe a salesman tough shit.

Anonymous said...

In all my life I’ve never met such a bunch of swindlers as real estate agents.

I hope they all drown in wet ramen.

Trouble is, being pond scum, they’ll float to the surface and continue to stink!

Russ DoGG said...

CALLING BS ON REALTORS: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY:

And now I have come across another reason to forego an agent and go FSBO (For Sale By Owner).

In their study, “The Value of Information in Real Estate Transactions,” Steven D. Levitt(University of Chicago and American Bar Foundation, author of the bestselling book Freakonomics) and Chad Syverson (University of Chicago and NBER), looked into the behavior of real estate agents to try to figure out whether they were doing the best jobs they could for the clients who were paying them. Their conclusion:

"Our favored interpretation of the data is that the combination of real estate agents’ information advantage and the form of the commission received combine to create distortions from first best. Homeowners are induced by their agents to sell too quickly and at a price that is too low."

The study is 34 pages long, but in a nut shell, they compared what happened when an agent sold a home for a client against what happened when an agent sold his own home. They found that:

"agents sell their own homes for 3.7 percent (roughly $7,600) more than they sell their client’s homes, and leave their (own) houses on the market roughly 10 days (10 percent) longer."

So if we do a little math, hiring an agent will cost you a 6% fee, and another 3.7% because the agent cares more about moving your house quickly than about squeezing the most out of the deal for you. That is a hair less than 10%. On a $500,000 home that means your agent costs you almost $50,000, and on a $1,000,000 home, that is $100,000. If you don’t have much equity in your home, that $50,000 might come in handy for something else.

Russ DoGG said...

well in know that comments a little late- but maybe someone will see it and it will be helpful in disintermediating another realtor and helping a decent person avoid sending 6% to a realtor.