As someone who has been watching the CV market very closely for a couple years, I can say that that is definitely true. Every time I see a “sold” where the seller got peak pricing, I get a bit disgusted with whatever agent these chump buyers are using. Buyers can’t be expected to be intimately familiar with the current situation. I would be, and most readers here would be, and if you have any sense you will be. But a lot of people don’t have sense, and therefore don’t familiarize themselves enough with the market. Or maybe they don’t really have the time to do so, and they figure that that’s what realtors are supposed to be for. The only mistake they make is to trust a realtor to have the buyer’s best interests at heart rather than their own. (Before I get angry responses, let me make it clear that I believe that there are plenty of honest agents out there. But there are also unethical ones. It’s the unethical ones I’m talking about.) So the realtor gets enough money to send his kid to college, and for what? For letting their client pay way too much for a house.
Sometimes, if the house is really a great house in a great location with a great view or something, I can almost let it slide. But when an entirely pedestrian property gets bought for a price that is reminiscent of the recent panic buying (and especially when plenty of other similar properties could be had for far less), I feel like a great injustice is being done.
Realtors: Do you have any system at all in place to check such unethical behavior? Do you feel angry or betrayed when you see such things? Under what circumstances, if any, would you say something to a buyer’s agent who let his client pay too much?
