patrick.net

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.

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.

CaptainShuddup says

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.

Hey, there are probably lots of reasons why people avoid you like the plague.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

toothfairy says

The ones attacking realtors are mosty people who've made bad decisions and are looking to point fingers and blame somebody else.

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...

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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

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.

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?

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

YesYNot says

The NAR threatened to sue Patrick

Is this true? I couldn't find the discussion thread. Slander? Defamation?

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.

Honest Abe says

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.

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

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.

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)

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.

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).

I see you can't control your liberal tendency of insults and name calling. Is that all you got?

tdeloco says

Is this true? I couldn't find the discussion thread. Slander? Defamation?

I think copyright infringement over the use of the word Realtor, but I cannot remember.

Honest Abe says

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.

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?

I have an awesome realtor! She does the financing too! She was a loan officer for 20 years then lost everything in the bust.. She knows hard times and is honest! She hates realtors too!

guruoracle says

I have an awesome realtor! .. She hates realtors too!

Well put.

Honest Abe says

What would you say if I told you I had advanced college degrees (plural)?

had?

Yea, wrong choice of words. English was not one of my strong subjects. I still don't know, or care, what a "gerend" is, or what a participle is, and I'm a terrible speller.

BAD SPELLERS OF THE WORLD UNTIE !

Abe, stop your whining and better yourself. Learn English.

Learning is fun. In this example, "Learning" is a gerund. No one knows what a "gerend" is.

That will improve your worth to society, especially if you have lifetime teaching certificates in multiple states.

YESNOT, thank you. I taught math and science at an all girls High School in Bloomfield Hills Michigan when I was 23 years old- my first teaching job. Then I taught math at the Jr. High School level for nine years in L.A.

My wife and I rescue weiner dogs - doxies, although we like all breeds. All had either physical damage, emotional damage or both. But not any more. We got one of them out just hours before he was to be put down, a close call.

We've kept four, fostered and placed the rest. Actually, of the four we kept, we were going to foster and place the last two that we eneded up keeping. So I guess you could call us "foster failures". When it was time to give them up - we couldn't do it, and ended up keeping them.

What about you, do you have dogs?

This is what humans do in emotional situations: Instead of taking time & energy to enlighten ourselves of the true value of real property, we rely on a salesperson. Then when things do not go our way, we find a scapegoat. Just ask Reginald Denny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Reginald_Denny

CAN'T WE ALL JUST HIT A BONG ?

Honest Abe says

What about you, do you have dogs?

Thanks for sharing. We've fostered a few dogs and kept a couple. At the moment we have two herding mutts, who are great jogging partners. I'm happy if we can improve the dogs behavior, teach them a bunch of tricks, and find them a new owner. I don't have the time to do them justice these days, so we haven't had a foster in a while.

In case you didn't notice, my comment about whining and bettering yourself was tongue in cheek. It was a play off of your earlier post. I personally would value a better understanding of grammar much more highly than a realtor's license, though, and that is coming from an engineer.

guruoracle says

I have an awesome realtor! She does the financing too! She was a loan officer for 20 years then lost everything in the bust.. She knows hard times and is honest! She hates realtors too!

Reminds me of this story. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/former-wells-fargo-loan-officer-testifies-in-baltimore-mortgage-lawsuit/2012/06/12/gJQA6EGtXV_story.html

In sworn court testimony, she described watching loan officers comb through heavily African American areas such as Baltimore and Prince George’s County, forging relationships with churches and community groups to sell their members shoddy mortgages. She says she processed loans for homeowners with sterling credit ratings with higher interest rates than they needed to pay.

She sounds like a peach. Her value to society rating is off the charts.

PockyClipsNow says

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)

My parents had RE licenses in Ohio, back in the day. They let them go when the economy there turned down and never came back, during the 1980-1982 recession.

everything says

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.

And they keep pouring in as it is the only licensed profession that doesn’t require half a brain. There were 1,900 exams given in FLA in nov,dec 2011 for RE sales agent. The fail rate for 1st timers was 48% on what is said to be the easiest of all license tests in the state. Even worse, the fail rate for the 2,085 Re-Takers ---- 66% ----! Pathetic . 2 strikes on the test should be the whammy – no more tries, ever – go F something else up.
http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/re/documents/FREAB%20Meeting%20Documents/02-12%20Meeting/ExamPerformanceRpts.pdf

YesNot, when we got our first rescue doxie, she was (and still is) nine pounds, and totally dog aggressive. I learned a lot by taking her to a dog training class at PetSmart, reading and watching dog training tips YouTube.

She went from being the worst behaved dog at the dog park to one of the best dogs at the dog park. Now I got all four of them pretty well trained and I can walk all four of them with one hand - without them pulling on the leash. One women said I was the dog whisperer, haha.

On Friday, one of the dogs we fostered out is coming for a visit and staying with us Friday, Saturday and Sunday, along with his two "siblings" - all of them doxies. So we'll have a house full of them, seven in all. Should be pretty exciting - especially at meal time.

BTW, I heard that the average income of a realtor is something like $30,000 per year. So I still don't really understand the inordinate amount of time and energy used to disparage realtors - but thats just me.

We've got some impressively trained dogs as well. One was much easier than the other. They seem to teach you what tricks they want to do as much as the other way around.

As for the Realtor salaries, NAR claims $50K. For agents in general, $30K may be right. That really isn't the problem. If my car mechanic makes $80K, I don't really care. My mechanics are good guys & do good work. I just want a good value for my money, and they provide it.

A buyers agent seems to be there to play good cop and help the sellers agent get you to buy. Our buyers agent just got in the way. To make matters worse, many are basically working off of a selling script that is aimed at the lowest common denominator. We bought below what we were qualified for, so maybe they assumed we were morons.

We tried calling selling agents directly, and the realtors switchboards would just pass us off to another agent in the firm. I think that the firm owners know that the good cop / bad cop routine will work better for them, and the secretaries are trained accordingly.

There are many intelligent Realtors and RE investors posting thoughtful stuff on this board, and I appreciate them. I'm sure that knowing a good Realtor would be useful, but the vast majority seem to be awful moronic wretches to me. The ones repeating NAR garbage should be called out on their bullshit.