January 28, 2008

PIGS FLY ALERT! A realtor with a conscience asks "Should we be telling folks 'now is a great time to buy' when in fact values are still declining?"


Never thought I'd see the day. I thought I'd only see '21 reasons' and 'bubbles are for bathtubs' forever from these no-morals six percenters.

It's the guilt HP'ers. It must be eating at the little ramen eaters.

The non-stop lies. The never-ending distortion. The spin. The con job. The talking points. And the fact that they knowingly hurt people for their own self-enrichment.

It's gotta be eating at their very souls. Those of 'em that still have one.

Now is a great time to buy Real Estate! Or is it?

Yesterday I received an email from my local REALTOR® Association (OSCAR). In it was a plea request, from our new Association President, asking all REALTORS® to place a one liner in all our ads stating "Now is a great time to buy real estate!"

Now folks, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I certainly don't agree that things are as bad as the media portrays but I'm having a hard time getting my head around "Now is a great time to buy real estate!"

Is this request, from our Association, an attempt to manipulate the market? Is it less than truthful? Should we be telling folks "Now is a great time to buy real estate" when in fact, values are still declining? What if I told someone this and they bought based on, "Now is a great time to buy real estate" only to find out three years later, when they need to sell, that their property's value has declined?

Am I over thinking this? Should I just jump on the bandwagon and start running optimistic ads just so I can "put more money in my pocket"?

Why do I feel uncomfortable about this? What am I missing? Please help me out here.

28 comments:

Frank R said...

It's nice to see a realtor with a conscience, but you know he'll be banished forever from the "profession."

Anonymous said...

"I certainly don't agree that things are as bad as the media portrays"

Uh This realtor is still in denial.

Anonymous said...

The NAR says it is a great time to buy, I saw it on the TeeVee. They are real estate professionals.

Anonymous said...

"I certainly don't agree that things are as bad as the media portrays"

Correct. They are actually a lot worse!

Anonymous said...

If the truth was really known - then not even one house would be selling - things are bad... very bad.

Anonymous said...

I cutting rates again this week, things will be all better. Now get back to watching 'Flip this house'. Nothing to see here.

Anonymous said...

A realtor with a conscience?

Keith you have been duped my friend.

Haven't you noticed the Realtors that populate the bubble blogs that are saying now isn't a good time to buy and that they would rather forgo their 6%?

It's like they are passing out virtual business cards to hopeful future (bubble blog reading) clients.

I wonder how many of these "good samaritan Realtors" left a trail of FBs behind them on the way up?

Anonymous said...

Haven't they been saying this for 40 years? It is never a bad ime to buy according to these horses ass's.They believe their own bullshit.

Anonymous said...

I am seeing the same type of coaxing from our local associtaion. They have even put up a website touting today's excellent buying conditions. I have always stressed value to my clients. It is the duty of the professional to find value, not just sell a poor sucker whatever they like, which seems to have become the standard in our industry over the past decade.

Anonymous said...

Rule #1. Anything that comes out of a realtwhores mouth is a lie( except of course those who are on their knees closing a deal).

Rule #2. see rule #1.

Miss Goldbug said...

Some of these realtors have known for some time about the bubble, and havent sold a house in months.

They need to eat, so they'll lie to anyone walking in an open house. Guilt isnt as bad not knowing someone personally.

Dino said...

Realtors are salesmen. Nothing more nothing less. They are like sharks. Stop selling and they die.

I have no love for these people, but I think it is ridiculous to blame them for the bubble. Your local 6%er didn't lower rates to 1%. He didn't eradicate lending standards. He didn't publish book after book on real estate. He didn't produce shows nn HGTV about flipping this or that house. And most importantly he didn't create the greed in the American consumer that had to have it all and have it now.

All he did was take a 6% cut of the action. Without realtors the bubble would still have happened, there would have just been one less middle man involved.

Anonymous said...

This doesn't surprise me one bit. Last week I heard a Radio advertisement from NAR stating:

-Now is a great time to buy (of course)

-"PRICES IN REAL ESTATE DOUBLE EVERY 10 YEARS".

Of course the claim was later qualified in the ad by saying it was based on a "Private NAR data set".

Hmmmm double in 10 years. That's over 7% annual appreciation, which we all know is just BS.

Anonymous said...

Realtors should not predict whether a market is going up or going down. The problem occurs because realtors can be accused of causing panic selling if we suggest that the market is declining so a seller should sell as soon as possible or suggest to a buyer that they should buy because prices are going up. All they can do ethically is present the known data (past) and let the consumer decide for themselves.

Anonymous said...

I actually spoke with TWO honest realtors this week. I was calling both on REOs they had listed and they said the banks were still in denial and that after the next big wave of resets in March/April the deals will really start to show up. They did say SOME lowball 50% offers had recently been taken by banks.

Anonymous said...

Have realtors or HP'ers spent an evening with struggling home owners (maybe your friends, neighbors, family)? Have you seen the personal despair?

Recently, parents of our kids classmates (who we only know casually) invited us over for dinner. They heard we were in the market for a house, and they are in a house generally like one I intend to buy in 6 - 12 months (maybe).

They cooked us a nice dinner with drinks, and were fun to hang out with. But, as the evening continued with more drinks (very heavy drinking for him), my wife and I saw the desperation come out. Originally, we were told they were ready to "move up". (I'd seen their house on a foreclosure sight, so I knew better). While he tried to hide his anger/struggles/pain, it came out with more drinks. It was very disheartening to see this first hand.

I left honest with him. I said the house is what we're looking for, but the price isn't right. And I don't have the downpayment I want yet. I told him the numbers I needed to buy his house (with accurate descriptions of comp sales from the neighborhood). His honest response, "We're F'd".

Anonymous said...

Yun is not going to be happy when he reads this, unless of course, he started this type of scam to get people feeling sorry for "honest" real estate agents.

Anonymous said...

There is way more supply than demand.

http://tinyurl.com/2pgzbb

The floodgates haven't opened yet.

When they start doing TV shows about" who can buy the cheapest house" then you know that is the bottom.

P.S. Any novice who thinks they can buy a cheap house at a foreclosure auction, be very wary, these guys are pros who will hype things up and whip things into a frenzy. They want you to forget that you were there to buy a low priced house, and just buy based on the excitement in the room.

Anonymous said...

The NAR will probably revoke the guy's "Realtor" designator, for even questioning the "Now is a great time to buy" mantra.

Anonymous said...

GREG SWAN ADMITS PRICES CRASHING IN PHONEIX

"whatever price you might get for your home today, you will probably get still less a month from now or three months from now."

Anonymous said...

Talking about pigs, nice how the PPT came up with a phony rally today to make Bush look better at the State of The Union address.

IT'S ALL RIGGED!

Anonymous said...

I was surfing Redfin looking at houses in a particular area of Ontario, CA when I noticed a $700k house. This is not a neighborhood of $700k houses. It had been purchased a few years before for about $400k and all the comps were in the three and four hundreds. It had been on the market 152 days. I went to zip realty to see if there'd been any price reductions in those 152 days. None. Unfortunately I had to register to get this info from ziprealty.com. I was flabbergasted that someone was trying to get that kind of money for a house in that neighborhood and hadn't dropped the price at all in half a year.

Anyway, because I had to register, I immediately got a voice mail from some real estate agent, and then an email. A week or so goes by and yesterday I get a call from him and I was stupid enough to answer even though my phone said the number was "blocked" from caller ID. He asked if I was going to buy this year and I said that I was watching the bubble news and waiting for the bubble to deflate. He told me, and I'm not kidding, that this is a great time to buy. I disagreed with him and told him why. He said his son lives in some town I never heard of and prices were up there. I was flabbergasted again. Finally I said, I doubt that's true but even if it is, I don't live in [that town] so it's really not relevant.

I can't believe they're trying this stuff on people who make it pretty clear that they're following the bubble news. Imagine what they try with people who are obviously clueless.

Anonymous said...

Screw this realwhore. When nothing else works try and gain a sucker his trust and then make a sale and the sheared sheep will thank you for looking out for them.

Pathetic aholes.

Anonymous said...

Not quiiiiite sure I should be lying. Oh, silly me! In Pinnochio's day, they didn't have nose jobs.

AndrewHac said...

* Now is a good time to invade Irag

* Now is a good time to bash the Euro

* Now is a good time to fulfill the Americano dream, albeit a "wet dream"

* Now is a good time to vote for "Little Boy + Fat Man"

* Now is a good time to HELOC the SH*Ts out of the crab shack

* Now is a good time to be an Americano eating roasted snapper turtle !!!

Anonymous said...

STAY AWAY FROM AUCTIONS!!!!!!

There will be plenty available homes through reo sites and mls.
Auction Homes are for professional investors only. Due Dilligence is a must with these auctions or you will be burned!!!!!!

I would wait for the banks to own the properties, then you can pick and choose.

ICEMAN

Anonymous said...

Briar

Never use your real name, address or phone number when registering on a real estate web site. I have a second email address I use for "junk" email--I don't give out my regular email address either.

AnonyRuss said...

From a certain flying-monkey bashing Phoenix realtor's column:

"Selling your home in a declining market? The race is to the swift"

"If you’re chasing the market down, chances are you’ll never catch it. The trick to pricing a home for sale is to race the market down..."

"What that means is that, whatever price you might get for your home today, you will probably get still less a month from now or three months from now."