A Humbling Lesson for Realtors' President

WashPost ^ | 9/9/2006 | Sandra Fleishman

[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.

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