Posted on 09/18/2006 9:10:42 AM PDT by Hydroshock
I don NOT think this has to do with the actual market as much as modernization is comming to the real estate sales system.
The old "mystrious" MLS system is going to go the way of the do do. People are protesting the rigged 6% "standard" commission.
The big boys are getting ready for the ebay sales system. They are dropping the dead weight.
(was not century 21 investigated for commission fixing?)
It would take a countrywide recession for there to be an all and out real estate market collapse.
Isn't going to happen, unless the US hits another recession.
Some real estate markets will see some corrections, but only back to more realistic market prices given the supply/demand. The only places that might see real collapses are ones like Pheonix and Las Vegas where their were massive projects of new homes built that outstripped long term demand. But I don't see total collapses, but a return to realistic prices.
The most pumped markets have already started to correct downward slightly (New York, Boston, San Diego, Las Vegas, etc...) or most of the time, trade sideways for the next couple years.
As long as their are people moving to these places in decent numbers each year, their markets won't collapse.
They do that in Seattle too. You know those pictures are at least 10 years old too since when you see these people in real life, they look nothing like their pictures.
Maybe. A local broker just put his whole agency on a flat $2995 a sale commission deal.
House was bought on 02/27/2006 for $700,000. It was refinanced for $ 900,000 shortly thereafter. It was offered for sale on or about April, 2006 for $1,045,000. The asking price today is only $899,000. That is a reduction of about 14% after the price was hyper-inflated by 28%. That is a 28% increase in less than 60 days! Thus, illustrating the classic house flipper scenario.
I can understand why people would want to sell a house in Minnesota, but why would anybody want to buy one?
I have a question that is worthy of a thread in its own right: What would the winning bid be if E-Bay went up for sale on E-Bay?
Can't happen here because we have Bernanke.
BUMP
>>The stock prices of the home builders are up again today.<<
Check back in a couple of months.
Yes, they could be down then, but they are about 20% off their lows, which is remarkable because there's been nothing but bad news.
While they do 'cost' their brokers to provide a dial tone and electricity to run their computers, etc., they typcially get a return or 50% of an agents gross commissions earned.
If you have several inactive agents in your office, I can see how dropping them from your roster would save you money....but typically, they do not cost a broker much to carry them.
Companies such as RE/MAX, which offer their agents 100% of their gross commission get a monthly desk fee...usually about $1500. per month.
You're not going to see many RE/MAX agents stay in the business if they cannot meet their monthly bills.
bump for later
"They deserve to go out of business"
Their standards of living will drop to eating rabbits to stay alive in those neighborhoods. >..<
"I can understand why people would want to sell a house in Minnesota, but why would anybody want to buy one?
"
Beats me. I'm a little nuts, I guess. But it could be the need to move where my wife and I could look after her parents. Her dad just died about three weeks ago, but we'll be here for her mom as long as she lives. Of course, all the women in her family live to be around 100, so I guess she may outlive me.
Did they win?
Yes, sort of. Both won contested primaries and only one won in the general.
That's where we're headed. All these illegals taking jobs that were previously done for decent pay by Americans, such as drywall and masonry, who can not afford a new house on their Wal Mart and McDonald's jobs, combined with the time bomb of creative financing is going to get ugly.
When real estate agents and brokers quote income figures, they're almost always talking about gross commissions, not net after their quite considerable expenses. Someone with gross commissions of about 67.5 K might net only about 25 K after desk fees, car expenses (gas prices lately haven't helped) and advertising layouts. Many agents I've known personally have spent money like drunken sailors, when the crunch comes, it really comes.
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