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I’m sorry, I could have sworn you said you were 30 in another forum topic here.

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Here is what Richard Smith said last September:

“Laws of supply, demand still rule housing market

It is ridiculous for USA TODAY to suggest that, for the past several years, home prices have surged “in part because developers, real estate brokers and mortgage lenders have spread the myth that (home prices) have nowhere to go but up.” As any college freshman taking Economics 101 this fall would tell you, prices will rise when demand is strong and supply is tight (Dot-com bust echoes in nation’s housing boom, Our view, Real estate prices debate, Aug. 25).
Allow me to burst your bubble. We enjoy a free market economy in the USA, and the housing marketplace is highly efficient from a pricing perspective precisely because laws of supply and demand rule the day. The United States is in the midst of a 13-year housing boom with home prices rising each year because the fundamentals that support the business are strong, not because a group of industry insiders got together to dupe the home-buying public.

As a matter of fact, average home prices in the USA have risen every single year since 1950, even through eight recognized recessions. From 1978 to 1981, mortgage interest rates soared from 9% to more than 18%, and although the volume of homes sold during those years went down, home prices still continued to rise. The reality is that when the housing market cools, people don’t sell off their homes in a panic and move into a tent. They just don’t move.

It is irresponsible journalism to compare today’s housing boom with the dot-com bubble. Real estate ownership is a long-term investment secured by a fixed, tangible asset and not a new-economy fabrication being touted by stockbrokers, analysts and investment bankers.

Stick to reporting the news and stop trying to scare the U.S. public, nearly 70% of whom just happen to be homeowners.

Richard A. Smith

Chairman & CEO

Real Estate Services Division

Cendant Corp.

Parsippany, N.J.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2005-09-06-letter-housing_x.htm

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I concur. Much of the blame lies at the feet of the lending industry. Hence my name, which is “lendingbubblecontinues”.

However…some of the venom comes from things like the Century 21 ad which I posted a link to in another forum topic. Additionally, some of the venom comes from the constant pounding of the “no problem here” shills that the CAR and NAR continue to trot out as “experts”.

Finally, Cendant’s (Century 21’s parent) own Richard Smith, I believe, taunted us last summer in the USAToday with an article about how the frickin’ laws of supply and demand and how there was NO housing bubble.

I wouldn’t be so upset with the real estate business if it weren’t so inherently dishonest. Don’t take it personally….I feel the same way about the investment banks on Wall Street, the NASD (the fox in charge of the hen-house during the NASDAQ bubble), and other industries as well.

I have friends who are successful real estate agents, who have helped us buy and sell our houses. They don’t get a free pass from me, either. Like you have said before…question everything. Well, too often, your brethren in the business don’t question anything.

I truly wish you well. You and I are both in our thirties..who knows what we’ll be doing in 10 years? 20 years? Someday we will all get back to thinking of homes as a f’ing place to live and we’ll laugh about how meaningless time spent posting on a blog in 2006 really was after all.

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Really ugly! And aren’t there supposed to be about 5,000 new homes coming on line there in the next couple of years?

I think John Deere may have some strong BULLDOZER orders in the next few years.

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Oh I see….it was TAX SEASON holding back the “spring hope mania” rush to buy homes. Thank God. I was getting worried because I thought it was supposed to have materialized after the SUPER BOWL was over.

We are now a full month into Spring and I don’t see anything that makes me believe that the next two months are going to be any better for sellers.

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I agree that a real estate agent does, in many cases, do a lot of work. But…

Does a real estate agent do TEN TIMES the work when he sells a million dollar house, instead of a hundred-thousand dollar house? Absolutely not, right? Then, why should the commission be $60,000 on a million dollar house, versus $6,000 on a hundred-thousand dollar house (at 6% commission)?? The envelope please….

It shouldn’t! And it won’t for much longer…think of how many thousands of shares of stock you can trade now for $19.95. Now think back to ten years ago…how much did it cost back then? A HUGE difference. What did the stock-broker do back then that warranted such a large payday? Truth is, there is absolutely no difference between what they do today and what they did in the good old days. Good real estate agents will need to learn to survive on $30-40K per year income, in my opinion.

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Thanks.

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About that “I’m #1” stuff, (and I’m trying to be funny here, not picking on anybody in particular) how is it that EVERY f&^kin’ realtor out there is in the “top 5% of agents” nationwide? It always puzzled me how all of their ads seem to say something like that.

Also, I went to the “DRE” website…how can you find out how many deals a guy has done? Or, was that just something that somebody in the business can figure out?

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Thanks for the original posting and also for the follow-up here on this board.

I was the guy who brought your link over to this board. I hope you don’t mind. Thanks for the great work you do over there as well.

I never thought the gal from Wisteria called me back and confirmed what I had read. I sure am glad she did, though. Crazy to think what kind of deal an aggressive buyer could make in there. (Of course, even at $495K it’d still be over-valued)

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PrivateBanker did call your bluff and I must say I smell a lot of horse manure myself.

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Thanks Rich- you rock!

RightSide,

Many of us in here are still waiting to hear you define your self-proclaimed sophistication from the Bressi Ranch thread…

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Why don’t you e-mail your fellow realtor there and get back to us with the answer?

Meanwhile, I see LOTS AND LOTS of price reductions in just my own small neighborhood in the last two days AND several new listings just today. So much for the spring bounce or “spring-hope-mania” as I have heard it called.

There isn’t “alot” of anything being sold right now, except maybe PAINT for all those new “price reduced” signs going up. Who’s seen those “I’m beautiful inside” signs? Soon those will be changed to “I’m SCREWED inside”

Finally, screw statistics…get out there and look around, take the pulse of the market…every open house I went to last weekend had an agent in it that seemed like they knew they were wasting their time.

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I thought it was kinda weird, too. Hey wait a minute, don’t you drive a brown Pacer with the license plate, LVMCHINE?

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What about listing agents who deliberately encouraged sellers to list a bit lower than current market value, knowing this would set off a bidding war? Think some of this might have happened the last couple years?

“Used-house salesmen” must share in some of the responsibility of the current mindset, that citizens might be “priced out forever”. Whether they are merely “parrot”-ing what their figureheads are saying or if they truly believe it, they have added something to the game.

Secondly, tell one of the more seasoned Realtors around here that she is merely a “facilitator” and I bet she would laugh at you. After all, her “investors” have all made millions due to her foresight and wisdom and I am sure she would let you know that she has a LOT to do with that.

Last thing, I found it amusing that you described yourself as a “sophisticated investor” who is “wealthy” and can “afford to lose all of my investment”. While it may be true that you are a sophisticated investor (“we’re not worthy..we’re not worthy”) most of the people I have met, who describe themselves as sophisticated, are ANYTHING BUT. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, of course 😉

Most of the people marching unwittingly towards financial ruin do not have it as good as you sound like you do, so your “can afford to lose all” viewpoint probably isn’t relevant for about 99% of the population.

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Thank you for posting this. The headline you’ve chosen for the forum topic says EVERYTHING one should need to decide whether to buy or sell right now. SELL!!

Unfortunately, the lemmings are all currently shopping for new “digs”. I am sure they will get right back to paying attention, after their closing dates come and go. NOT!

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