The MISINFORMATION AGE is truly alive and well. I am an established Real Estate and Mortgage Broker in San Diego, CA. When I read articles like this from some of my fellow peers I want to call them up and ask them how they sleep at night by convincing and misinforming their buyers about the state of this housing market in California.
It reminds me of the stock ANALYSTS (the equivelant of some of today's APPRAISER'S) of the late 90's who said Commerce One amonsgst other internet stocks (went as high as 300 something per share if not higher)had no limit to how high it would go, it was the HOLY GRAIL of internet stocks, has anyone looked at the ticker symbol lately? Hint: there isn't one. How about PPRO.
I am sure we could all put a long list together of these symbols branded in some of our minds, and license plates, possibly start a whole other blog, and everyone tell their stories about how their options were worth millions AT ONE TIME and ON PAPER which doesn't mean..you guessed it…anything.
At least with this asset you could sit in front of your computer via Etrade, fingers shaking, and push the button at any time and know what your loss is going to be that instant. You could sleep at night even though you had regrets and remorse…not so, with the not as LIQUID ASSET of Real Estate.
Has anyone called up the proud owners who bought that stock after listening to this analyst on CNBC and falsely HOPED that the analyst was right and put THEIR trust in him? I wonder how they feel right now about it? Better yet, does the analyst care? I bet he exited the stock before it started it's slide into HELL (by the way, for all the fundamentalists this is translated GRAVE not an eternal abyss of damnation and punishment).
It reinforces the obvious fact that SOME people, especially prevelant in this industry, care more about making a commission than the people they have an ethical responsibility to educate and aid in making one of the BIGGEST decisions in their lives.
Hopefully, these types of people will be filtered out during this statistically reinforced inevitable downturn.
How will these peers of mine feel when in a year one of their buyer's that has a wife and 3 kids lose their house and experience the emotionally devastating and humiliating reality of a foreclosure sale. Every time I work with a client I think about these things continually. The kids stressed and confused, the probable stress on the marriage relationship and their dreams down the tubes. You just don't bounce back from an event like this…you think you will be able to call these people and ask for a referral after their wonderful experience with your services?
I, as a professional Broker have a responsibility to look out for the best interest of my clients not only short term but LONG TERM and if that means I have to reduce my office space, cut back on niceties and sacrifice for a few years, so be it. But there is not one client of mine in which I will convince and try to take advantage of in buying ANY RESIDENTIAL real estate here until:
A) The FUNDAMENTALS come back into line (please see the graphs on the home page especially SD home prices vs. per capita income. "A picture is worth a thousand words or in this case thousands of dollars".
B) Situations come up with a listing where I can move my client or buyer into an opportunity where there is SUBSTANTIAL equity and not at today's APPRAISAL prices.
C) They have substantial reserves, this is liquid money in the bank, not 401K's and Pensions to be able to ENDURE any adverse situation that may come their way in the future.
In closing this thread, I want to address my fellow peers with a few thoughts to ponder:
1)We have a responsibility to EDUCATE our clients about purchasing Real Estate in today's market and the substantial risks at this moment,not hyping them up and manipulating them through self-interest statistics for a commission check.
2) A realtor's job is not just to find a house for someone. My 10 year old nephew can get on the MLS, check a few boxes and send listings to someone. IT IS TO BE HONEST WITH YOUR BUYER'S ABOUT THE RISKS OF THIS MARKET AND LET THEM ASSESS THE RISKS AND MAKE A DECISION.
By the way, if you do this, you will have happy and satisfied customers, plenty of referrals, and a long lasting and profitable real estate business. Because at the end of the day my friends it is about people and not money.
