HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

Would you use a realtor if they worked for an hourly wage, versus trying to steal your money by taking a percentage of the sale?

If so, how much per hour do you think their work is worth? (you know, unlocking those lock boxes, printing things off the internet, pointing out the granite countertops...)

When a Ponzi Scheme ends, the easy money goes away, and the con men, promoters & speculators have gone home, this is what you have left

“Kelly Markham earned $200,000 in commission in 2005 as a loan officer at an Irvine mortgage brokerage. When commissions dried up, she began looking for another job to support her six-month-old baby and hang on to her $600,000 home.”

“‘I’ve signed up for work at a temp agency, but all I’ve gotten is five hours of work in the past four weeks stuffing envelopes in some office,’ said Markham, as she perused Starbucks job listings online one recent afternoon.”

Open Thread: Have you ever bought or sold a home without a REALTOR? Tell us about the process here

Since REALTORS are dinosaurs, never to be trusted or used again, this thread is about For Sale By Owner, Zillow, real estate lawyers, google, craigslist, discounters, getting your home on the MLS for cheap, Redfin, buying foreclosures, and anything else regarding buying or selling a home without the six percenters.

Never again Americans. 6% REALTORS and the NAR are toast.

HousingPANIC Thought of the Day

In Iraq we got "Debathification".

Can we get "DeREALTORification" in America?

REALTORS - The least trusted profession in America

HousingPANIC message to realtors and mortgage brokers on commission: WE WON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN YOU BASTARDS!!!

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

At what point do realtors come to terms with the fact that the Late Great Housing Bubble was a classic financial mania, and that the Great Housing Crash underway will eventually cost them their livelihood (if not their reputation as well)?

At what point will realtors admit they either spewed lies to earn a commission, or truly were too dumb to understand what was going on?

BONUS: Here's some random quotes from Phoenix realtors at the funniest site on the 'net - Realty Times. Man, you can't make this stuff up... 100% pure comedy genius that we'll laugh at for years and years!

* "If you are looking to buy, there may not be a better time than NOW!"

* "We are seeing what looks like a bottom to the market"

* "August 2007 is looking to be a good month for the local Real Estate market."

* "Phoenix home prices have dropped and have made it more affordable for buyers to get into the market."

* "Finally a normal market. Don't believe all of the gloom and doom you here in the media about the housing market"

realtors - the least trusted profession on earth

Remember just a year or two back when we were in all kinds of silly debates with simple-minded little realtors about whether a housing bubble existed or not? When you were called a brown shirt, chicken little or bitter renter if you spoke out against the bubble and the REIC?

Skip forward to today, and now the realtors are f*cked, their lies having been exposed, their livelihoods destroyed, and now they're calling for a federal taxpayer bailout of the housing gamblers.

From "there is no bubble" to "save us - we're crashing and need government help!"

realtors. No longer needed. And no longer trusted.

HousingPANIC Stupid realtor Quote of the Day

"I'm not a real estate bum. I wear diamonds, Rolexes and necklaces. I'm a classy Realtor."

- Liz Seither, President of Executive Preferred Properties

(check out the full article HP'ers - nice to see realtors were among the biggest housing gamblers. Like crack dealers doing crack. Not a good idea.)

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

So, tell us America, what are you thinking about realtors and mortgage brokers these days?

I wonder if these scummy mortgage agents still have their jobs. Doubt it. Good.

America, you got gamed by 20-something call-center-jockey kids pumping mortgages you couldn't afford and even they didn't understand so they could make a quick commission.

Tens of thousands of life's losers - call center jockeys, bartenders, used car salesmen, Herbalife distributors (you get the picture) - found their way into the unregulated and out-of-control REIC over these past few years. The one saving grace is that they're getting canned left and right - the party is over.

I wonder who'll be picking up the bottle service tab in Scottsdale tonight? Anyone? Anyone?

One year plus into the greatest housing crash in human history, I've not heard one realtor call this a housing "crash", "bust" or "meltdown". Why?

Spin, spin, spin.

Lies, lies, lies.

Deny, deny, deny.

Ignore, ignore, ignore.

Attack, attack, attack.

Why, why, why?

A HP note to six-percenters: Try honesty as a policy. America hates liars. And your lies have now been exposed for all to see. Change, or die. Your choice.

What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what's happening in the housing market -- a financial bust of epic proportions -- clearly isn't just staying there any longer.

That explains why the fear level on Wall Street has become extreme in the last two weeks. There is real panic in the air now.

Veteran investors know that it's usually a bad idea to sell into panics. But after a 4 1/2 -year-long bull run in stocks worldwide, it's also understandable that many people are antsy to protect the paper profits they've accumulated.

There's an element of what-goes-around-comes-around in S&P's warning: Bear Stearns, through its EMC Mortgage unit, was one of the major financiers of the boom in sub-prime mortgages that now is imploding, as rising numbers of strapped homeowners default.

Bear Stearns sold a lot of junky loans to investors via mortgage-backed bonds but also kept some for its own hedge funds. Two of those funds blew up in June, a debacle that S&P said had damaged the brokerage's reputation.

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

Did realtors, mortgage brokers and appraisers have to lie, cheat, defraud and distort these past few years just to keep up with their competitors?

Has it always been this way, or did something radically change?