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How is it a good time to sell with record inventory and falling prices? It's hindsight, but obviously last year was a good time to sell.
How is it a good time to buy with record inventory and falling prices and rents being so much less than owning?
So the NAR says these things without any supporting facts and we should all listen then run out and buy something. Thanks for insulting my intelligence!
Perhaps they would serve the members better by taking that ad money and offering job training assistance in alternate careers.
I've been seeing horrifying ads much closer to home than the NYT just by keeping a watch on Craigs Sacramento. How about an up to $2 mil 100% loan with out income verification? Apparently there are significant vested interests seeking to perpetuate houses of cards that are overdue for a day of reckoning. Can such charades continue indefinitely? I hope not.
Maybe some of the more economist-like folks on the board can comment, but when is it ever a good time to both buy AND sell in RE? If it's a "buyers' market", the sellers are at a disadvantage, while in a "sellers' market" the buyer is at the disadvantage.
The only scenario where both are in a financially advantageous situation is if all realtor commission is eliminated and transactions save the 6% commission, shared between buyer and seller. Maybe the NAR is implying they are waiving all realtor commissions??
Of course I kid, but how dumb do they think people are?
Hey,
Where's our friend CorruptRealtor? Maybe he can offer his "insider's" view on what the NAR is thinking in putting out this ad campaign. Are they really as desperate as they appear?
Can anybody me out here. Is there a word for the phenomenon exhibited in the above ad.
I think the word you're looking for is "desperation."
by a convenient coincidence, this story just came up in the local paper about 'hiding defects'. clearly, defects may not cost $1,000, they may result in a knockdown of $10,000 or no sale at all, depending. While a single hole in the plasterboard wall may be cheap to repair, it would look extremely bad on open day, ditto for repainting the walls etc before you sell -- impressions count for a lot -- as we know with the 'staging' movement...
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Buyers told to beware house flaws
Daniel Dasey
November 5, 2006
THERE is a growing trend among home sellers to camouflage flaws in their properties by using everything from gap filler to plants and wall panels, a peak building body warns.
Archicentre, the building advisory service for the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, said the number of home buyers seeking advice about faults uncovered in properties had surged.
Faults include illegal building work, cracks, termite damage and timber rot.
"Many of the cover-ups are effective because prospective home buyers do not know what to look for and fail to understand the cost of the hidden problems," Archicentre state manager David Lawrence said.
"Typical 'weapons of mass deception' include the use of gap-filling products, wall panelling, strategically placed furniture, pot plants or rugs and newly painted surfaces."
Mr Lawrence said Archicentre had also had an increase in calls made by worried home buyers after they had signed the home sale contract.
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Thanks Boston Transplant, good idea to put up a link to the parody as the thread image.
Patrick
FAB,
Perhaps the realtors aren't quick as interested in concealing the $1K defects, but they're quite willing to conceal potentially deal breaking defects (like a buyer that makes $60K/yr buying a $750K house).
So I think it's just a matter of scale.
Can't wait for the equivalent of CarMax to put them all out of business.
very true, John. not that it will sway the NAR too much :(
it's always a bad sign when you can't obtain any contact details for an organisation for feedback...
I was stung to write an acerbic e-mail to the shadow Treasurer yesterday, where Labor promise to magically 'reduce inflation and interest rates' if they get elected. I pointed out that housing inflation has probably been a substantial trigger for general inflation, and to call me if they wanted some genuine workable affordable housing policies. I'm still waiting for the call... (from a slimy overpaid 'adviser')
If you look at the insider announcement from Patrick, you'll notice an
e-mail in the top right corner:
Turns out that there are still some semi-bulls in the comment thread here:
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/11/analyzing_why_i.html
If I truly believed in internet spambots, Ha Ha would be the prime suspect.
Ha Ha Says:
> I could not vote DEMOCRAT mainly due to two reasons:
> 1. Responsible for housing bubble
How are Democrats “responsible†for the housing bubble?
> 2. Supports illegal immigration
At least the Democrats support illegal immigration while doing absolutely nothing to stop it. I don’t know how Republicans can sleep at night when they rant about illegal immigration day in and day out then like the Democrats do absolutely nothing to stop it…
SFWoman,
I'm not a fan of illegal immigration ( lawbreaking is lawbreaking to me, regardless why the law gets broken ) but Ha Ha has a truly laughable stand on illegal immigration. Most of the Central Valley farmers who depend on illegal immigrant laborers are Republicans. Ditto the Republican builders and contractors who hire illegal day laborers.
I think the Democrats are actually quite ambivalent about illegal immigration. The limousine liberals might be for it, and the inside the beltway types salivate for the legalization of poor immigrants (whom they think will vote Democratic, I'm not so sure about that prospect coming true), but the poor blacks and poor whites who still vote Democratic are very hostile towards illegal immigrants - those illegal immigrants are undercutting them on jobs, affecting the culture in their neighborhoods and schools, and competing with them on government benefits.
Re: midterm elections
I'm really unenthused about this midterm election. On one hand, I can't stand having the Republicans in power any longer. On the other hand, I feel a Democratically controlled congress (pun intended) will allow the Republicans to blame all the bad things they allowed to happen on the Democrats.
To be quite honest, I'm not even sure I want to vote this year. I really feel like there is no "less bad" decision this year.
limousine liberals
You mean "Keep Tahoe Blue bumper sticker on Chevy Tahoe bumper" liberals? :)
The problems associated with illegal immigration will be solved by replacing income tax with sales tax. A welfare reform is also necessary.
A welfare state will fail with or without illegal aliens.
I just hope the US get out of Iraq pronto. My boyfriend's brother stupidly joined the US army this fall and I do not want to worry about him losing a limb or his life due to Republican callousness on this subject.
My boyfriend’s brother stupidly joined the US army this fall and I do not want to worry about him losing a limb or his life due to Republican callousness on this subject.
Let's hope that he is alright. All wars are wasteful.
jbunniii Says:
Ha Ha, don’t worry, your vote and mine canceled each other. We might as well have both abstained.
hmm, where does that lead by a process of induction...
Walk puppies, young puppies. Volunteer to train them for others or something, because once it’s a dog it is far less of a magnet. Cute fluffy puppies.
hmm, that's easier than riding a horse thru city park and keeping it in the apartment... and even includes a tip on how to get them!
I just hope the US get out of Iraq pronto.
let's see what happens in the polls tomorrow. altho i'm worried that somehow the repugs will be returned with an even higher majority through some strange artifact...
SFWoman, if the right tax and welfare reform is implemented, the presence of illegal aliens will
1. be disincentivized
2. pose less harm
Does the puppy tip work for little kids? What if a guy (in search of hot women) volunteer to babysit his friend's young children?
Does the puppy tip work for little kids? What if a guy (in search of hot women) volunteer to babysit his friend’s young children?
Puppies may work better... I don't know. I am a 100% cat person.
I wonder if the dog walking trick is breed selective, golden retrievers for one kind of women, poodles for another kind of women, and so on.
I think a better tax policy and welfare reform would make things more fair, but I think most illegal immigrants come here not to get welfare (although there are benevolent-society groups that sponsor legal immigrants to do just that) but to work because they see far more economic opportunity here.
True. A guest worker program is necessary. The present situation indicates that current regulations are economically inefficient.
I think a well thought out, enforced guest worker program that actually keeps track of the workers, combined with proper exit control at US points of entry/exit would be most helpful.
Exactly.
And neither the Republicans nor the Democrats would propose that guest worker program. And I would agree with them. This country has a sufficient underclass as it is, no need to formally create yet another layer and make it into some sort of Gulf Arab state (see also Hong Kong and Singapore) where guest workers are treated like slaves.
SFWoman,
Ah, you're psychic!
Actually, that first comment was re: your response on guys babysitting young kids to attract women.
This country has a sufficient underclass as it is, no need to formally create yet another layer and make it into some sort of Gulf Arab state (see also Hong Kong and Singapore) where guest workers are treated like slaves.
It seems that the free market pushes for it though. My impression is that slavery - one form or the other - is just natural to the human order.
More reason for self-hatred.
Peter P,
One ought not read too much into fiction, esp. Michael Crichton's fiction.
Illegal immigrants aren't making the sort of wages where income tax would be a serious consideration. And I highly doubt a sales tax would do much to affect their affection for US jobs.
As I've said before, the best solution is to severely penalize any employer who dares to hire illegals. Bankrupt them, lock them in jail, shame them in public and make them the scum of the Earth. Once the demand dries up, the supply will eventually head back south. No fences needed, just make it impossible for illegals to stay.
As I’ve said before, the best solution is to severely penalize any employer who dares to hire illegals. Bankrupt them, lock them in jail, shame them in public and make them the scum of the Earth.
That may work for a while. But it may not be economically efficient though.
BTW, why isn't the American underclass being utilized?
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I was horrified to see a full page ad in the NY Times this morning, encouraging people to buy now, of all times.
Here's a PDF file of the ad
And here's their insider announcement
The need for this kind of desperate propaganda seems like a clear sign of fear among Realtors(R).
Patrick
#housing