Realtors Recommendations Are Making Me Madder and Madder!

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Regularly now, Realtors are discounting all of the accurate (and bad) news about the market. Regularly now, good agents are treating the national news with contempt, and pointing to areas like Salt Lake City, and Portland as areas to buy.

I can’t think of anything more unethical. Realtors that I know have generally had good standards, concern for their clients and epsirit de corps. Maybe it was the good market we experienced. I don’t know.

A recent post I made at Blown Mortgage (here), got me hate mail. Literal hate mail questioning my integrity, ethics, and intellect. There are good streets to buy on in every market, there are good areas in the united states. But it’s going to get worse. I can say that because we’re about 1/5th of the way through the lender implosion.

They AREN’T Making Land Anymore, Right? Everything’s at an 8% Discount, right?

We get articles saying that subprime mortgages are a tiny percentage of the overall total. Yes, this is true. But right now, since the price of a single family residence–by far–outstrips its utility, we’re gonna see some severe corrections. Banks being unwilling to lend take away the market, and prices drop.

It makes me sad to see the same Realtors earnestly fighting me, title companies and the other party to get their buyers and sellers a great deal…telling buyers it’s a great time to buy, and telling sellers “you better sell now before things go to hell…”

Enough Negativity, What Can We Really Do?

As a mortgage guy, I’m having an up year because I’m focusing 100% on prime loans, serving realtors, and offering a product. There are still buyers out there, and for most people, the choice to own is better than the choice to rent. Right now, it’s the time to:

1. Pay more attention to price.
2. Don’t overpay for chattel and features.
3. Ensure that you’re buying 5% below the real and recent comps.
4. Only work with agents that do more than 3 deals a month–in this market.

Also, ensure that you’re in it for the long haul, and are OK when bad things happen. Our country has survived all kinds of funks and I’d bet on our future–to a point.

Tomorrow: what a practitioner can do.