Saw this from a post over at the always-entertaining Active Rain blog:
From REALTOR Magazine. In the June 2008 issue, on page 42, there is the following statement.
Tip 3: Build in a preset price reduction. While all our practitioners agreed that arriving at the right price the first time is the goal, sometimes you have to be a little more flexible, especially if you are in a marketwhere prices are in decline.
So.. nice to see the NAR FINALLY adopting the correct strategy, at least internally. It's the price stupid. It'll always be the price stupid. The 6%'ers aren't eating anymore because the NAR chose to lie and spin and deceive, when they should have been shouting at the top of their lungs this message:
"Home prices got wildly inflated in the US in a wave of massive speculation and fraud. If you're a seller, cut your price, cut it dramatically, and get out now. If you're a buyer, 50% off peak prices in most markets should be your target, at the highest, and a P/E ratio that makes sense. And as always, REALTORS are here to help you (while taking our 6% off the top of course)"
Yup, that would have done the trick.
May 28, 2008
So the NAR is saying in public that all is fine, and prices have bottomed. But in REALTOR magazine, they're telling the 6%'ers to cut the prices fast
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17 comments:
Realtwhores HAVE to lie.
They can't tell the truth in ANY market since doing so would alienate one or the other part of the transaction that the Realtwhores are only sucking the life out of.
In this declining market, they must tell the seller to lower the price, but they can't then tell the buyer the price is going to continue to drop. That's why they call the bottom CONSTANTLY in a declining market. Of course, calling the bottom publicly puts them at odds with the sellers, who then refuse to budge on the price.
We call them Realtwhores for a reason. They only care about getting their 6% for doing next to ZERO value-added work. You can't tell a Realtwhore this, of course, since they confuse driving around and pushing papers and committing fraud with REAL WORK.
Hopefully the increasing use of technology will finally relegate these crooks to the glorified clerks they always were. When pricing information becomes COMMON, then there's no job left for a salesman or any kind of broker whatsoever.
Man, you've got to love the Bernanke-worhip propaganda coming from the NY Times:
NY Times: Bhudda-like Bernanke
And you thought all the Greenspan worship was out of hand. Everybody on their knees and pray towards Washington : our enlightened saviors!
Ron Paul handily beating Hitlery in Idaho
Not that it matters but I have a new respect for the wise people of Idaho!
The NAR is the scum of the marketing community
I have long been tired of Keith always being a bitch about realtors and their commission.
Keith,
I am not too sure where prices are here in the Northeast, but yesterday I was totally shocked. I was under the impression that prices were holding steady here, as not too many are in foreclosure.
Yesterday I met with someone who is interested in selling and she is willing to let go a 1 family, 3 beds for 150k. I was totally shocked. Two years ago, that would have fetched close to 300k, if not more, around my area.
Dny
It's just not a good week for the NAR in general. They had to make a settlement with the Department of Justice to allow internet-based realtors to access their precious MLS.
http://tinyurl.com/4n5mq8
I can't wait to hear how they are going to defend their 6% now.
Most agents seem to have no concept of real estate market cycles, but they're beginning to understand that rising inventory and poor affordability are going to push prices down one way or another.....
You shouldn't be shocked at all - the true value of housing is now being revealed, and there's nothing to stop prices from tanking much, much further.
Anonymous said...
Keith,
I am not too sure where prices are here in the Northeast, but yesterday I was totally shocked. I was under the impression that prices were holding steady here, as not too many are in foreclosure.
Yesterday I met with someone who is interested in selling and she is willing to let go a 1 family, 3 beds for 150k. I was totally shocked. Two years ago, that would have fetched close to 300k, if not more, around my area.
Dny
You know, I liked my "buyer's agent" when I bought and I liked my seller's agent when I sold.
But you know, my sister was a travel agent and THOSE jobs are GONE LONG GONE--and, you know, booking a trip to a far off land with complicated ticketing/connections and unknown amenities--there's more need for a professional for THAT than there is for picking a house in your neighborhood and getting a loan, I think; and yet, those jobs are GONE.
It will be interesting what the prices and price trends are like when homes are bought and sold on amazon.com and homelocity.com.
For now though, the banks ought to set up direct-sale web sites off their main sites, for all the foreclosures. Then once inventories settle down, divest the site and remaining inventory to whoever becomes the amazon of home sales sites...
I meant to add that although I liked my agents--I hate salesman as a rule and generally expect the worst from them.
They can't spin this much longer we are entering a phase of panic, then it's every man for himself.
Now that you are on the side of realtors, that means that things have come full circle. Time to shut this blog down and start something more contraversial. Seriouslyl, homegain is advertising on your site....
I meant to add that although I liked my agents--I hate salesman as a rule and generally expect the worst from them.
Anyone who works on a commission can't be trusted. I doesn't matter whether they're selling houses, cars, vacuum cleaners, insurance, stocks/mutual funds, or apples on the street corner. Don't trust them.
Also interesting is the poll on their front page:
June Poll
How would you characterize your local housing market?
Getting stronger 38%
Losing ground 46%
Unchanged from last year 16%
Total Votes : 104
That built-in price reduction is a clever cheat. I wonder if they could be sued for price manipulation or false advertising? If it's the professional association telling realtors to lie en masse, is that a form of racketeering?
Wise geek seems to indicate it may be:
http://tinyurl.com/6pncek
Hey, Keith - class action suit! You could be the next Erin Brockovitch.
- creme de la creme
Anyone who works on a commission can't be trusted. I doesn't matter whether they're selling houses, cars, vacuum cleaners, insurance, stocks/mutual funds, or apples on the street corner. Don't trust them.
Don't trust dentists either. I went to a dentist last month, a graduate from Boston University, who tried to screwed me with an nonexistent tooth infection. And the funny thing is that a co-worker went to the same dentist and he tried to screw him with the same diagnostic. What a crook!
I'm telling you, the dentists are going for the kill out there, especially the young ones. This is a new America in which work pride or ethics are are. Everyone is willing to sell their mothers for a buck.
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