patrick.net

You really have to go back to the height of the bubble....era 2003-2007.

Sometime around 2003 a handful of people were thinking "whoah, 25-50% yoy increases are unsustainable. We are in a bubble". Mostly these people kept it to themselves. Then later in 2004, more people realized it and did not keep it to themselves. They started posting on internet sites.

Immediately they were shouted down and vilified. Most of those doing the shouting were real estate agents. It got progressively worse to where it was VERY clear by late 2005 that we were in the mother of all bubbles, but every REA out there was like "Buy now or be priced out FOREVAH!!!!!!!"

Seriously, it was a complete feeding frenzy and the REA were completely out of control.

People who were proclaiming "bubble" at that time were simply shouted down, told they were the biggest idiots of all time. And they are never going to forget that. The preying, used car salesman attitude.

A whole bunch of clueless buyers hired a whole bunch of clueless agents. The clueless buyers bought at the top and lost money. Who do you think they blame? What happened to personal responsibility? :)

It's very similar to clueless investors getting advice from clueless stock brokers and lost money. Who do they blame? :)

dodgerfanjohn says

You really have to go back to the height of the bubble....era 2003-2007.

It's about timing. Wrong timing can be a bitch. Prices are back to 2005 level in my area. It was at 2004 price level in 2009.

In some parts of the Bay Area, home prices are already back up to 2006 level, with few exception north of the peak level. Borrowing $1M at 7% interest rate is not the same as borrowing at 4%.

upisdown says

Back in the 2000's there were alot of real estate companies teaching classes on how to become an agent with the testing too. Any given big company had about a third of the agents that never moved any property at all.

The franchises make all their money from the agents, not when properties are sold. They milk them for desk fees, member's fees, advertising fees, and anything else they can get them to pay for.

The result is that big franchises don't care about the quality of agents, they just need as many as they can to make the most amount of money. The entire incentive structure is pretty nucking futs when you put any thought at all into it. From the top levels all the way to individual sales.

ChrisKolmar says

The franchises make all their money from the agents, not when properties are sold. They milk them for desk fees, member's fees, advertising fees, and anything else they can get them to pay for.

This is mostly true... they do make a good chunk of change as their cut of our commission.

That's almost like indentured servitude. We always called them truck drivers, like the numerous schools that teach truck driving, that most "graduates" also never seem to ever drive a truck.

They don't care who pays or where it comes from as long as somebody does. At some point there had to have been a line that crossed into counter-productiveness.

NAR isn't looking out for the public good, they are looking out for themselves and their membership as a mass. What they say and do may be good for boosting membership or even sales, but it's usually so disingenuous it makes decent agents look ridiculous.

Many agents aren't worth a fraction of what they are paid. Others are worth even more. A great agent can benefit a buyer or seller far more than the costs of having them involved.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of truth in the rants on this board and others. Many agents have no business being in the business. And there are some real, fundamental flaws with the established compensation norms.

While the industry and most agents deserve criticism, there are some great ones out there. Hate the game, not all the players.

E-man says

It's about timing. Wrong timing can be a bitch. Prices are back to 2005 level in my area. It was at 2004 price level in 2009.
In some parts of the Bay Area, home prices are already back up to 2006 level, with few exception north of the peak level. Borrowing $1M at 7% interest rate is not the same as borrowing at 4%.

For us, the good deals were gone back about 2010, and now the real deep pockets will bid up a property chasing returns to a point we're not willing to go to. Now we focus on getting a part of that return through services, and while not the exact same numbers-wise, it's rather good.

taxee says

When you know more than they do consider buying.

Great advice right there

I hate them because none I've ever dealt with have ever been professional. One made comments about a house I liked, not outwardly saying but hinting that I wouldn't like the neighborhood because it was predominantly black (we were both white). Another really thought she had the expertise of a home inspector, and would (inaccurately) assess supposed defects in the house (she even mistook a piece of plywood that was chewed by a dog as termite damage). One thought everything that wasn't in a gated community with HOA dues higher than the mortgage payment was "dumpy." And ALL of them were emotional, shared awkward gripes about their personal lives, and treated it as if they were shopping for themselves, not for someone else who has different needs and tastes. They always seem to be bored and uneducated housewives who found an excuse to go house shopping all day by taking strangers with them.

David9 says

blown off for whatever Realtor reason.

Was blown off by a rEALTORS greatest sociopathic attribute, what's in it for me...

ChrisKolmar says

Shouldn't buyers take more responsibility for their own actions and not blindly follow a salesman? For example, I don't pay attention to car salesman when I buy a car or eye glass salesman when I get new glasses.

Didn't you answer your own question?

Beause todays agents are enabling predatory investor groups that use cash at auctions. The small guy can not compete with that. These groups just do a half Hass job restoring the homes without touching the plumbing, wiring ,windows, insulation roofs and flip for insane profits. Then the connected lenders will not accept VA buyers beause they may need to wait an extra week for an appraiser. the system is so messed up and cut-throat, this is not a real market and prices are being pushed up again.
Thank you greedy Wallstreet and investment groups.

I have yet to meet a real estate agent who added any value to the transaction. They want thousands of dollars to list on MLS, raking in the dough just for posting a few photos and a piss poor description of property full of typos. If I could list on MLS as a private citizen without bowing down to the cartel I might consider them decent human beings. As it is , they are vultures.

Thanks, I've checked, it's not available in my whole state. None of the cartel members has crossed that line here, not enough competition I guess. But thank, you. It is a good idea, an agent had to be willing to accept the flat rate. Since they are mostly scum, it ain't happening here.

ND

Hausmeister T says

Try this link:

http://mlsmyhome.com/default.asp.pg-NorthDakotaFlatFeeMLSListingCoverageArea

Only lists on realtor.com, not MLS

isn't that just a territory??

Vaticanus says

ND

When I bought my house in 2003 I went through several bad realtors until I found a good one. Most of them were just trying to get me to buy a house that was way more expensive than I wanted.

SoftShell says

isn't that just a territory??

Vaticanus says

ND

Yep, gets purty hairy out there sometimes, the indigenous people shooting arrow at us and whatnot whilst we head to town in the wagon for supplies. No country for old men.

Hausmeister T says

Last time I used mls2u.com, I liked it a lot, you do everything with them via web forms and email (at least in NY). According to their website they do MLS in ND:

http://www.mls2u.com/USA/ND/go.php

I appreciate the idea, I actually took your suggestion last night and signed up. This morning however I got notice that they had refunded my $399 . Apparently no one in ND is signed up after all! What a disappointment!!!

Insert obligatory realtors are cartel scum comment

Let me make a distinction here between Real Estate sale people, and Real Estate agents.

I think there are plenty of people in the Real Estate business who work with clients. It's hard to make the distinction, but you should be able to make a decision during your research, and interview process.

Let me also say that you will never know more than some one in the business, who has longevity. It takes doing deals, winning some, and losing some, to know the business.

I have worked with several realtors over the past few years as a contractor and I am sad to say that only a handful of them have prove to be worthy of representing other people's interest. For the most part they are sneaky, slick sales people who have little to no ethics .. I just fired my own realtor because he can't seem to understand that sending out unlicensed and uninsured contractors to his clients homes is ILLEGAL !

I am sorry to say that for the most part I hate realtors