Why Not TODAY?

[jawbone_shack]

I posted some of this in a reply to another forum topic, but I thought the question deserved it’s own topic…..

It seems like San Diego Realtors are nothing more than legalized thieves and con artists. Where the hell do they come up with these numbers these days? Are they ignorant? How do they substantiate it when reports show San Diego home prices are as much as 67% overvalued, from CNNMoney:

Coastal housing markets still way overvalued

When you see reports like that I wonder why the bubble doesn’t burst, oh I don’t know, like TODAY? What’s up with this?

[speaker]

Take it easy on the flaming in the forums.

When you say things like:
“It seems like San Diego Realtors are nothing more than legalized thieves and con artists.”
you demonstrate to the readers that you are not capable of analytical thought or that you lack objectivity. Statements of hyperbole and conjecture actually bring the quality of the threads down.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am very suspicious of Realtors and the industry itself but I do acknowledge that there are a great many more good realtors vs. shysters, con-artists, etc. Now more than ever it is vital to hold a realtor’s feet to flames to weed out the amateurs from the honest ones. And the only way to accomplish this is for one to do their due diligence by asking a gazillion questions.

“End of line.”

[JJGittes]

Actually, I just today experienced some bad behavior. My wife called a listing agent this morning to set up an appointment see a house. She was met with the usual avalanche of questions…what is your timeframe?…have you been looking in the area long?….who have you been working with?…and on and on. (Its too bad the agent didn’t use the time to talk up the house.) Then, the agent said the house my wife was calling about was “just listed”. The problem is that the house has been on the market for six months, and was just RE-listed at a lower price. We drive by the property all the time, and we have tracked the property on-line since before December, so we know this to be the case. After being confronted,and then confronted again, the agent admitted it was just relisted. I’m sorry, but flatly lying to someone who you hope to be doing (big) business with is not a way to start things off. Do all agents/brokers do this? I am sure NO, but desperation is causing some ugliness in the rank and file…
Just my 2 cents.

[jawbone_shack]

Wow that’s a little brazen. When you say things like “you are not capable of analytical thought or that you lack objectivity” you demonstrate to the readers that perhaps you are just a malicious person and people should not post their observations here for fear of getting reamed, or perhaps you are afraid of facing the truth — you wouldn’t happen to actually be a realtor yourself, would you?

I thought the purpose of a forum was for people to be able to post their views, objective or subjective. Let me try putting it this way. Objectively speaking, according to a report from CNNMoney houses in San Diego are overvalued by 67%. After carefully analyzing this data (among other supporting stories I have found), I have come to the conclusion that only thieves and con artists would continue to push the prices put on houses in this county, day after day, without a fair adjustment seemingly required by the cold hard truth. Hyperbole? Call it what you may, I am not going to candy coat it.

[jawbone_shack]

JGittes, as for the good old “just listed” garbage it is a common practice (according to my wife who just so happens to be a Classifieds Typist for real estate ads). After a certain amount of time, the MLS listing will expire…the realtor will then renew it and claim “just listed” even though it had been on the market for months. It’s just one of many tricks. Here’s one you should keep a heads up on too, a little nastier:

An unscrupulous real estate agent WILL use you to manipulate a sale. We had our eye on a house, quite some time ago, something we thought we could afford after careful and painful consideration. Unfortunately, the VERY day we went to see it it supposedly went into escrow. We told the realtor to keep us in mind if it falls through. One day we get a call from the listing agent and they said the escrow was “looking shaky” and they wanted us to make an immediate back-up offer. In a nutshell, we didn’t get the house. After a little digging we believe that it never really fell out of escrow and they were using us to manipulate the true buyers to get their act/paperwork together (our agent said they were dragging their feet) and possibly remove contingencies on the sale. If we came in with a better offer, they would have been able to force the other buyers to remove the contingencies or cancel the sale and go with us. I guess our offer wasn’t that great, which leads me to part two:

Beware mortgage brokers too. We discovered that our loan person actually new the listing agent and TOLD the listing agent what we could qualify for (not what we could pay for of course — that’s irrelevant in a day of massive credit debt and over-inflated house prices — we’re even surprised what we could qualify for, not that we could pay the resulting monthly mortgage!). So even if the house we wanted did fall out of escrow we could never have gotten a decent price. After our offer, the loan person actually CALLED our realtor and said “hey I thought these people were going to offer much more”; guess she was talking with her friend the listing agent….

[hs]

I have been looking for a house to buy since the end of 2004 and have met quite a few of them. They showed me that they are not some good quality, honest people. They are not much different from those used car sales people. Actually they are used house dealers. They are shysters. Unfortunately you see the bad side of human being from them–Greed.

[powayseller]

Jawbone, I think this blog has had a lack of courage, as people have avoided sticking up for the truth. As long as you give generalized berating comments, and don’t attack any one person individually, your comments are fair game. I do think your language is strong, but you have a right to say it.

I am in regular contact with several realtors, some of whom are my friends, and the good ones are saying, “Hey, only buy now if you can afford to ride out the next 10 years because they’ll be bumpy and your house value will decline before it goes up. Get a fixed rate mortgage. Can you handle riding it out and getting a fixed? If no, don’t buy now.”

[hs]

Good to see you again, powayseller.
Welcome back!

[powayseller]

Thanks.

[speaker]

Umm…yeah. Jawbone, you pretty much proved my point. Touch a nerve did I?

Take a breather and go back and read exactly what I wrote and you will see that it was not that brazen.

You don’t like realtors. We get it, but coming into the forums and flailing about saying things like SD realtors are nothing more than legalized crooks is just nonsensical.

For the record, I am not a realtor.

“End of line.”

[sdrealtor]

I agree and have been saying this for a couple years. See we can agree on something.

[sdrealtor]

I dont beleive this is unscrupulous but rather representing your sellers best interest as their listing agent. You have a buyer that is not performing and the deal looks shaky. You call someone that was interested in the property and tell them it looks shaky and if they are interested they have a chance to bump the person ahead of them. They submit a back up (hey they dont call it a back up offer for nuthin’) knowing full well that the person ahead can get their act together or lose the deal. Sometimes it pushes the buyer to perform (a good thing if you are the seller) sometimes it shakes out a weak buyer sooner than later. Nothing unscrupulous there.

As for the mortgage broker, they shouldnt share financial information unless expressly permitted by the buyer client. As for telling what you could “qualify for” thats not a big deal because with todays lax loan underwriting you can qualify for just about anything via stated income loans. Any decent agent knows that and relies on the numbers their buyers tell them they are comfortable with not what they qualify for.

[sdrealtor]

Just curious as to where you “met quite a few of them”. The best agents are walking the streets they are busy and work mostly by referral. Find someone you know who had a good experience and get a referral.

[jawbone_shack]

I’m not sure exactly what point of yours I “proved”, but I’m pretty sure your missing mine. Let me say it again, HOUSES IN SAN DIEGO ARE AS MUCH AS 67% OVERVALUED. Does everyone ignore the FACTS? If I tried to rip people of for 67% over what my services or goods were actually worth, I would consider myself a thief and I would not be able to sleep at night. OK, I’ll be fair to you, perhaps we just have a different way of looking at things — what is your definition of someone who overcharges someone by 67%?

I do not hate realtors, I hate thieves. Just to be fair to the realtors, the homeowners looking for these prices are also at fault. When only a tiny percentage of the populace can afford an average priced home in the area, there is something more than little wrong. How do the realtors substantiate these prices (ahem, 67% overvalued)?

I think I am actually the one that is touching a nerve in this forum. It’s a little surpising and almost amusing how people are getting all flared up about my post. Perhaps those who find my comments abrading are already sitting on a hunk of property and overvalued wealth. Perhaps you do not have to try and buy at today’s prices, dealing with people who are quite greedy, ignorant and cold hearted…..kind of like thieves.

[lostkitty]

“Any decent agent knows that and relies on the numbers their buyers tell them they are comfortable with not what they qualify for.”

I can assure you from my own moving experiences – that far too many of them do not.

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