A Humbling Lesson for Realtors' President

WashPost ^ | 9/9/2006 | Sandra Fleishman

[ex-Texan]

He, of all people, should have known better.

The president of the National Association of Realtors, Thomas M. Stevens of Vienna, admits he didn't follow his agents' advice when the real estate market started to cool. That, he says, is why his old house in Great Falls has now been on the market for a year at the price of $1.45 million.

"What I should have done," confessed the senior vice president of NRT Inc., parent of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, "was listened to my agent and cut the price by $50,000 to $100,000 early on, and the property would have sold last October." * * *

Now Stevens, like so many other home sellers in the Washington area and around the nation, is waiting for a buyer in a market that has totally reversed course since a year ago. * * *

[ex-Texan]

At least he has not seen his house fall in value $ 200,000 right before his eyes. One house flipper in California saw that actually happen in just six months. Last I heard, he still has not sold the home. Check my FR page if you are curious. If you are one of the naysayers out there: "Nothing to see here. Lock your doors and windows. Time to move on."

[Suzy Quzy]

FAUX story IMHO. He's just showing that people should pay ALL that money to a Real Estate Agent!!

[ex-Texan]

*Ping*!

[kinoxi]

They take fees and give back very little to the agents in my experience. Schadenfreude definitely applies here.

[socal_parrot]

WOW!! The President of NAR and one Flipper in California!!!

WE'RE DOOMED!!!

Reality...While there are some areas in California have dropped (Sacramento, down 7% from last year, San Diego, down 1.7%), statewide home prices rose 5.1% in July over last year.

CA home prices by county...

http://www.car.org/index.php?id=MzY0OTY

[ex-Texan]

Caught this on craigslist:

Drove by this house today and see the inside. Drove by yesterday and it's truly a dirty little dump that needs a sh*tload of reno inside and out. I'm gonna talk to who ever's sitting there greeting the hordes of lookers and see what this person has to say. I won't be rude, just want some honest answers. On this street there's at least 4 other little tiny Spanish bungalows (average size: 750 sqft) in really bad shape for sale all between $420k and $479K each. You know the type... when they were built 70 years ago they cost about $5k each.

Will report back to you all, in case anyone cares. Here's the listing, check out the pics - A Real Bargain at $449K? Oh really?:

http://monterey.craigslist.org/rfs/205048195.html

[1rudeboy]

Isn't a house "flipper" a speculator? Why should I be alarmed that a speculator bet the wrong way? I don't get it.

[BurtSB]

OH NO, its a ex-texan "the real estate market is crashing" alert. I am sure the left wing media the DNC appreciate his help in trying to stir up panic and hopefully bring down the economy before the midterms or at best the 2008 election cycle! Oh course he won't admit to that !

[socal_parrot]

A single Craig's list ad? Now we're really doomed. You have been spewing this negative BS and trying to alarm FReepres for years. One of these years, you'll be right and you'll look like Nostra-frickin-damus. I sold a home this year for $600,000 over what I bought it for in 1998. If I would have take your advice and gotten out a few years ago, I would have lost $200,000.

You are a sad one trick pony who would be better off taking up fishing.

[socal_parrot]

About Craigs List, you can get puppies for free or pay one thousand dollars for them. You can get desperate people selling homes or a listing for people that can wait for their buyer and still make a profit.

[socal_parrot]

Not a good flipper market, which is a good thing.

[osideplanner]

Uh, I have a suggestion.......don't sell now.

[kinoxi]

The market prices are unsustainable at current rates in many areas of the US.

[Moonman62]

A quote from the article:

When asked how long sellers should expect a sale to take these days, Stevens said 40 to 60 days would be typical.

40 to 60 days, that's really rough /sarc

The article indicates he had the home priced too high to begin with. A home which he built 25 years ago on $49,000 worth of land. His current home is appraised at $2.8 million. A home bought in 2001 for $1.3 million.

The horror, the horror! /sarc

[Moonman62]

Do you know what the current rates are?

[Moonman62]

Read the entire article. The NAR guy is sitting on huge pile of equity. It's not the wailing and gnashing of teeth that ex_Texan wants it to be (what else is new?).

[kinoxi]

Expense to sale price ratio. It varies.

[Moonman62]

I thought you meant interest rates.

[kinoxi]

Interest rates vary as well.

[ex-Texan]

Flip this house! It is on sale today for only $ 445,000.

There is no housing bubble in SoCal. Nothing to see out there. It's all an illusion created by the MSM. LOL, LOL, LOL !

[Moonman62]

So you post an article about a house listed in Virginia, just so you can spam it with a California listing?

This isn't a flipper's market. I don't see anybody contesting that.

[308MBR]

I have a bigger kennel.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Laughing. My. A$$. Off.

The National Association of Realtors has had more to do with the overinflation of the housing market in the last 5 years than any other organization. I hope Tom Stevens ends up sleeping on a subway grate.

[goldstategop]

People hire realtors because selling a home involves a lot of legal paperwork and to market the home, it needs to be seen on MLS listings. Those are accesible only to realtors so a do it-yourself FSBO is usually out of luck. Most people don't know how to price their home realistically, don't know how to market it and don't know all the disclosures required to be given to a prospective buyer. Let's put it this way: if you have a $100,000 legal question - would you take on it yourself? Of course not. The more expensive things are in life, the better is to leave their disposition up to professionals so one stressful element is removed from the picture and next to death and divorce, a move is the most stressful thing most people will ever do in their lifetime.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[Suzy Quzy]

I was making the point that the Head Realtor guy put out that story to make people think that they can sell their house really fast and save money by listing with a Realtor. I paid the last one 25,000 and she said she WOULDN'T EVER SHOW IT because she was the LISTING AGENT!!! That was AFTER we signed....It was an awful time...she did NOTHING.

[Suzy Quzy]

I was making the point that the Head Realtor guy put out that story to make people think that they can sell their house really fast and save money by listing with a Realtor. I paid the last one 25,000 and she said she WOULDN'T EVER SHOW IT because she was the LISTING AGENT!!! That was AFTER we signed....It was an awful time...she did NOTHING.

[goldstategop]

I couldn't believe what the realtor showed me when I put my home on the market. My parents paid $15,000 for it in 1974. Time has increased the value of a single family home to mansion price levels!

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[goldstategop]

If the realtor doesn't sell, they don't get paid. The contract you sign stipulates they get their 6% commission only when there's a sale. Of course if you're running out of cash and need to sell fast, you'd be tempted to sell it for less than what it is worth.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[Lancey Howard]

At least he has not seen his house fall in value $ 200,000 right before his eyes. One house flipper in California saw that actually happen in just six months.

This is happening all over the place. Of course, it's essentially meaningless since home prices are still WAY above what they were five years ago. The losses are "paper losses" for the most part. All that's happened is that the monstrous appreciation in value that people saw in their home's value has been trimmed back to a somewhat saner level.

There's certainly nothing to get excited about.

[goldstategop]

Yep. Of course, the only reason people with a $40,000 income move into a half million dollar home is because they know they'll move before the decade is out. All the dream property that commands gorgeous views such as ocean front, lake front and alpine view property is priced out of reach to all but the mega-rich.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[Lancey Howard]

Good post. Selling a house without benefit of a broker is stupid. People who go the FSBO route, are putting themselves in competition with every broker and agent in the area. I have seen statistics that show that on average, people selling their own houses get about 11% less than they would have with a professional real estate broker. And for that they get to deal with all the hassle and contractual stuff they know nothing about.

[RipSawyer]

when they were built 70 years ago they cost about $5k each.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Five thousand sounds high for a house that small in 1936.