WatchI'm frankly amazed at the amount of energy devoted to disparaging realtors? Why all the hatred? Seriously. Is it because your home lost value? Because you paid too much when you purchased? Because you took out a VIR loan? Because you're envious of them? The first place to look when you're having a problem is a mirror.
There are a number of "professions" with a far greater number of psychopaths and sociopaths than realtors...such as LAWYERS and POLITICIANS. But for some reason no one here seems to notice or care. America is far more screwed up because of lawyers and politicians than because of realtors. Admit it.
Follow
Befriend (9)
70 threads
930 comments
San Leandro, CA
Separating fools from their money is the American way. Value is what the market will bear.
I think we should disparage itunes, Oakley glasses and Porsche ! Notice the more popular itunes tracks are 30% higher. Maybe Itunes sales people are Realtors in training ? Those prices will only come down when fewer people are willing to pay higher prices.
Buyers make value ! We all paid too much for property because we need to keep up with the Jones's.
A sad thing about our culture, negotiating a lower price is like admitting we are NOT filthy rich and price does not matter. Commissioned Sales people are not going to force prudential qualities.
Follow
Befriend
40 threads
856 comments
Oakland, CA
The ones attacking realtors are mosty people who've made bad decisions and are looking to point fingers and blame somebody else.
whether you didnt buy soon enough and housing prices tripled..blame realtors. if you bought just before prices cratered. blame your realtor. realtors are convenient scapegoat for any bad situation you may find yourself in.
Follow
Befriend (2)
15 threads
428 comments
Reston, VA
This site was started in part warn people about predatory realtor practices, the danger of overpriced houses, etc. Look around. There is a house popping in the upper left hand corner.
Are you really surprised people on this site are talking about Realtors instead of politicians or lawyers? The NAR threatened to sue Patrick. Are you really surprised people are looking for ways to circumvent the NAR.
If you are amazed, you might be an idiot.
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
YesYNot says
Yeah!
They fucked with The Poobah!
This means war!
Follow
Befriend (2)
15 threads
428 comments
Reston, VA
???
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pubah
1. pubah
a word that can be used in any context, oftenly exclaimned in times of rage or frustration, often used after one has completed a {compton hole punch] or used amish butter on someone. also very useful to yell at midgets when they dont wipe your ass the way you want.
You nympho, youre such a PUBAH!
or
Damn midget, you pubah.
GO PUBAH A PUBAH!
Poobah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Poobah
Follow
Befriend
19 threads
590 comments
Los Angeles, CA
YesYNot says
toothfairy says
Follow
Befriend (9)
414 threads
4,127 comments
Baltimore, MD
I'm pretty sure that the main reason why people hate realtors is that they are extremely self serving and the commissions charged are outrageous when compared to the small amount of actual work done (which could be way more efficiently done online), when the whole thing should probably cost something more like $250.. The whole cartel aspect of the real estate industry is also something of widespread hatred.
Follow
Befriend (1)
247 threads
4,704 comments
Realtors avoided me like the plague when I was home shopping.
Because I told them my absolute limit I was willing to pay.
You tell a realtor that you expect to pay 150K-175K when they are touting the virtues of 225K - 250K, they'll get really disgusted in you really fast.
Follow
Befriend
41 threads
905 comments
Ross, CA
CaptainShuddup says
Hey, there are probably lots of reasons why people avoid you like the plague.
Follow
Befriend (2)
15 threads
428 comments
Reston, VA
http://www.freakonomics.com/2006/11/13/more-bad-news-for-realtors-part-819/
It's an old survey, but from the above...
Journalists, I am sad to say, did pretty poorly in prestige terms, ranking toward the bottom of the list. They beat out only five other occupations: union leader, actor, business executive, stockbroker, and … real estate agent/broker.
Meanwhile, http://houstonrealtor.har.com/Realtors-Revel-in-Public-Approval-HR100-1958 ...
This year NAR is spending nearly $20 million on more than 3,400 network television and radio spots. Radio advertisements began during February and ran through mid-October. Television advertisements began the week of March 10 and ran through mid-September. The campaign is funded by a special assessment of $20 per member.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1654/honesty-ethics-professions.aspx
20% of people think that Realtors have a high ethical and honesty standards. I'm surprised it is that high, as I found them to be bigger bullshit artists than car salesmen.
Your average person knows that most Realtors are dishonest, uninformed, and unethical. Obviously, there are some exceptions to the rule, including the ones who post informative things on this board.
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
DIE, REALTOR® FUCK, DIE!
Follow
Befriend
10 threads
767 comments
Dublin, CA
This is primarily a real estate blog. In the big scheme of things for the purposes of this website, "politics", "investing" are of secondary importance. I am sure that if you go to your typical political website, it will be reversed and then some.
Follow
Befriend
65 threads
188 comments
I agree that lawyers and politicians are worse than realtors. I also don't understand the value of the disparaging realtors the way that a few people do here or to the degree that they do it. It's a bit too much energy. I have always assumed that these people weren't doing so well financially.
But almost every realtor I have ever met did really filthy things in the first couple of minutes I met them. They persistently lie and they know they are lying. You can be disgusted by realtors and not be jealous. I think you ought to be disgusted by them if they do the things that I witness all the time. I have met two realtors in the last week and both of them hit me with a tidal wave of complete bullshit.
I do think they are mostly scumbags. I am not jealous. And I don't spend the energy on it that some here do.
I think the really angry folks here could lighten up a little and I think you could realize that most realtors are pretty scumy and that it is reasonable to be disgusted by them.
Biff
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
What's telling is that the best of them are completely useless for critical issues like conformity of note, local law regarding disclosures, etc. Stuff that matters and, for the one or two that would give a shit, just simply invisible to them. The place we OWN now, the note was vetted by a consultant, lettered and credentialed, who found non-conforming issues related to penalties for late payment and subsequent interest charges that were completely at variance with state law. She recommended accepting the note with a written waiver on those issues because its quality would make it likely to be retained in the underwriter's portfolio, reducing potential turbulence that attends sales of mortgages. (The latter really mattered to our consultant as she was spending increasing proportions of her practice time tracing the failures of mortgage transfer that preceded mistaken foreclosures that attended the increasingly crappy servicing quality.) Yes, they kept the note to final discharge.
Besides being complete scum-sucking bags of emu shit, the Realtor®s assertion of total knowledgeability of RE transactions gives the naive buyer a sense that he has authoritative and comprehensive expertise at his command when, in fact, there are a number of dimensions of risk completely invisible to him and the scum-sucking bag of emu shit. There are worse things than being lied to - and one of them is not knowing what you don't know when you are putting your name on the line for a six- or seven-figure risk.
Follow
Befriend
16 threads
4,426 comments
Corruption.. a way of life for the NAR. Even from the point of the Finance industry they influence laws that effect banks and lenders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Realtors
The NAR wields substantial power as a lobbying organization on behalf of agents and brokers; in 2005, NAR had the largest Political Action Committee in the United States. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the association is the United States' third-largest donor to political campaigns, having given since 1990 more than US$30 million.
Of this sum, an average of 47% has gone to Democrats and 53% to Republicans.
Key political issues for the group revolve around federal regulation of the financial services industry.
Follow
Befriend
19 threads
1,534 comments
Los Angeles, CA
We need a 'final solution' to the realitters. They can either be deported to thier original dimension of hell from whence they came OR they are put in to 'work camps' where they are retrained in usefull skills such as carving meat (useful in cannibal anarchy), growing potatoes, and as fluffers of course.
Follow
Befriend
16 threads
4,426 comments
toothfairy says
They invited the blame since many from the top to the bottom of the Realtor profession kept stating.. buy now or get priced out, prices only go up, and many many others.
Frankly its amazing how we havent passed laws or issued warnings to eliminate their false claims and outright lies.
Overall, listen carefully to the NAR.. according to their comments.. we are in a mortgage crisis, but not a housing price bubble.
Yep.. they are in denial...
Follow
Befriend
19 threads
1,534 comments
Los Angeles, CA
The 'fog a mirror' to get a loan era lasted A LONG TIME.
In 2001 I was prequalifed by countrywide to buy a 350k home.
In 2004 I was prequalified by countrywide (same broker!) to buy a 1.5m home (and without going stated fraud loan!).
The excesses of the bubble are still hard to belieive. The worst is convicts in jail who were being visited by loan brokers to buy property with thier 'clean credit' and stated income loans for fraudulent deals. hahahaha. Most guys in prison for life has clean credit! Its perfect. And the feds bought the fraud loans and/or bailed out the banks who made em. We are totally CCCP now. Very little rule of law here unless you get caught on camera stealing a candy bar.
Follow
Befriend
16 threads
4,426 comments
when Enron blew up.. Arthur Andersen was gone (dead and buried) in 90 days. AA didnt impact many people, but very few investors.
NAR today.. still at with all their tricks... talk about scandals! They should have been gone by now.
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
DIE, NAR, DIE!
Follow
Befriend (41)
91 threads
1,806 comments
Mr House prices are cratering, I'm a jackass because I pointed out the ugly truth?
Why not beat those sneaky Realtors at their own game, get your own real estate license, and never be subject to their dirty tricks ever again?
Biff thanks for your articulate argument. No question about it, there are bad Realtors just like there are bad contractors, bad sub-contractors, bad lawyers, etc. I just think the amount of whining is not in proportion to the industry.
In my opinion most of the real estate problems originated in politics. Front row center is the Community Reinvestment Act, initiated by Jimmy Carter and greatly expanded by William (B.J.) Clinton, which gutted lending standards, and FORCED banks to make loans to people who could not repay them.
And for the rest of the home buyers, no one forced them to sign on the dotted line - in fact they were the greedy ones. For you libs out there - its ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT, right? You seem to lack the personal responsibility gene. Sorry for your loss.
Get your own realtor license and stop whining.
Follow
Befriend
6 threads
198 comments
"Get your own realtor license and stop whining."
Its not whining when you disparage salespersons on commission, an inherently sleazy occupation.
Realtards have a built in conflict of interests with their "clients", I mean their marks.
Realtards are a particularly disgusting breed of salespersons on commission due to an attitude evidenced by many of them. An attitude that they are some sort of skilled professional. Laughable.
As for getting a "license" to perform sleazy acts, no thanks.
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
Honest Abe says
Exactly! The fire department is staffed entirely by arsonists, so the only sensible solution is to organize your own individual fire department - and leave the arsonists at large.
Hey, the CRA canard. I love it when they pull that out of the air. Haven't seen that in months. A golden oldy. FDIC examiners get a chuckle out of that one.
And, of course, the buyer was the villain, dismissing the Realtor and loan brokers' entreaties to be cautious and only sign up for safe and secure exploding ARMs and sub-prime notes to fund their speculations.
Abe, you really have acquitted yourself brilliantly as a Realtor®.
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
I IMed a guy from the FDIC and said I saw the CRA canard again and he answered, "Drink!"
Follow
Befriend (7)
29 threads
1,212 comments
31 male
Premium
Very little rule of law here unless you get caught on camera stealing a candy bar
______________
I guess you haven't heard of congress deliberating for countless hours over wether or not Roger Clemens lied to them about taking steroids. Too funny, a room full of the most dishonest, corrupt, crooks mankind has ever known, hammering away to find out wether or not clemens juiced a dozen years ago, and then lied about it to congress. I guess it depends on what your definition of lying is. But imagine what society would look like if we didn't have congress there to protect us from rockets lies, or martha stewarts "insider" trading. Who is watchingg the watchers
Most politicians are lawyers, id figure anyone with a pulse understands that they are the dreggs of society, but what can you do about it? Law for profit is quite an ugly concept. They are only human, so why act surprised when they do anything imaginable to benefit their own self interests. Just do your best to avoid one. I certainly wouldn't suggest becoming one
Follow
Befriend (2)
3 threads
547 comments
Madison, WI
Realtors have a virtual monopoly, and apparently protection to lie and get away with it, yep politicians and lawyers have a license to do the same.
But, envious of realtors?, the parasites of the housing market, that suck off you, adding 6% to your loan so the banks can suck off you some more, nah I don't think so.
Follow
Befriend (12)
140 threads
1,355 comments
Emeryville, CA
My problem with realtors is the same problem I have with anyone who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about.
I had a lady Realtor tell me that Cash for Keys was a myth (and she's been a Realtor for over 30 years).
Another Realtor sold the house around me for 900K (down from 1.1 million) in 2010. She told me it was the bottom, and practically threw me out when I disagreed. It's down another 200k.
I just want people who get paid a princely sum to know their industry. Is that asking too much?
Follow
Befriend
19 threads
1,534 comments
Los Angeles, CA
I did in fact get my own RE license 7 years ago near peak fraud.
It saved me a few thousand BUT MORE importantly I totally grok the entire industry and I'm ok with it (because now I can now spot a poisonous snake from a harmless one. BTW everyone is a snake of some type or size....which kind are you?)
You can get an agent license with 2 weekends of studying, pass a state exam and it cost me $300
Follow
Befriend (2)
11 threads
218 comments
San Jose, CA
YesYNot says
Is this true? I couldn't find the discussion thread. Slander? Defamation?
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
Yes! They fucked with The Poobah over use of their sacred name.
Never forget!
Follow
Befriend (41)
91 threads
1,806 comments
PockyClips - right on! Rather than whine and complain you did something about it and are now in a better position in life.
The lazy whiners don't want to be pro-active and do something to better themselves, they just want to whine.
Follow
Befriend (7)
29 threads
1,212 comments
31 male
Premium
Honest Abe says
For someone that so hates the fedgov, its quite odd to see you advocate others acknowledge the licenscing process for realturds. Thank the lord we have the gov here to save us from unlicensced deviants practicing used house sales
Follow
Befriend (2)
3 threads
547 comments
Madison, WI
Can't be to hard to get the license, from some offers I've seen written up, I questioned whether the realtar even graduated from high school.
Follow
Befriend (28)
171 threads
4,191 comments
Premium
everything says
Did you see the Value Added Realtor® asshole? Brain damaged. This guy was drop kicked from the special ed class and he had dental impediments that made it difficult for him to give blowjobs at truck stops.
So he became a Realtor® !
Follow
Befriend
19 threads
1,534 comments
Los Angeles, CA
I started reading on this board in 2003 and its the same type of whining- almost no one will step up and do it themselves. It really is easy and cheap to get a license. At some point I quickly tired of complaining and 'did it myself'.
Also sometimes I will pick up trash in the street when I tire of complaining about what a shit heap los angeles is. (this is rare! lol)
Follow
Befriend (41)
91 threads
1,806 comments
errc, I don't hate the fed gov. What I hate is the waste, fraud, mismanagement, double standards and the like from big, ever growing, invasive, government.
When is enough enough? I heard the other day we have more chance of dying by tripping on furniture in our own home than dying by terrorists...but we have a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars to 'protect us'. FBI, TSA, Secret Service, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Drones, NASA, Homeland Security, National Guard, State Police, local police, Green Berets, Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and I just know I missed at least a half dozen.
Who was it who said: "If you give up freedom in return for security you often end up with neither.
Finally this - I'm more of a person who feels empowered and in control of myself. Others, maybe you, maybe not, seem to enjoy the pity parties but won't take any action to better themselves, that's all.
Follow
Befriend (41)
91 threads
1,806 comments
Actually I do have a lot to be proud of. And your liberal tactic of name calling isn't getting you much mileage. And doing nothing productive? What would you say if I told you I had advanced college degrees (plural)? That I had lifetime teaching credentials in multiple states? That I employ hundreds of people? That I run five successful businesses? That I have an excellent reputation in the community? That I rescue dogs - 7 in the last 2 years. A jackass - maybe you're referring to YOURSELF !
You must have a poor self image and the need to attempt to drag others down so you can feel better about yourself, right?
BTW, the public has free choice to buy - or not. No one forces anyone to buy a house the last time I checked. With any purchase, do your own independent investigation, don't rely on a sales person to make up your mind for you (kinda like - well dahhhh).
Follow
Befriend (41)
91 threads
1,806 comments
I see you can't control your liberal tendency of insults and name calling. Is that all you got?
Follow
Befriend (2)
15 threads
428 comments
Reston, VA
tdeloco says
I think copyright infringement over the use of the word Realtor, but I cannot remember.
Follow
Befriend (2)
15 threads
428 comments
Reston, VA
Honest Abe says
I'd say that's a little surprising, but congratulations. What did you teach & what kind of dogs did you rescue? Do you foster or did you keep all 7?