“Ambitions Of Sellers And Demands Of Buyers Collide”
The Journal Sentinel reports from Wisconsin. “Hard bargaining and a molasses pace mark the home-selling trade these days. ‘So many people have had their houses up for sale for months and months,’ said appraiser Paul Vozar in West Allis. ‘I’m seeing concessions anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 in recent weeks, given as a credit at closing. Or sellers just drop their asking price.’”
“The cost of stubborn resistance: Buyers snub your property, said Donald J. Moore, president of Houses.com in Elm Grove. ‘It’s the old ‘irresistible force meets immovable object’ law. A black hole forms and all real estate gets sucked into it,’ said Moore.”
“Buyers who had to cope with a supply-tight market just 18 months ago, now have plenty of ‘for sale’ offerings laid out before them. In metro Milwaukee, 34,805 existing homes came up for sale in the first 10 months of this year, more than double the 16,766 sold, according to Metro MLS in Wauwatosa.”
“‘We don’t have an economic problem. We have a confidence problem,’ said Maddente, who is executive VP of Wisconsin-based First Weber Group. By looking long and hard without making any offers, she said, ‘buyers are waiting to see how low prices will go.’”
“‘You can tell if a property is overpriced. It sticks out like a sore thumb,’ said Realtor Bonnie Duffin, who works in Milwaukee. ‘Buyers are going down too low on some properties.’”
“The Gaber family of Muskego sees things differently. ‘We have looked at so many places over the last six months,’ said Faith Gaber, sounding weary. She and husband Greg are helping their son Garrett hunt for his first house. Among under-$200,000 offerings, she said, ‘everything seems either overpriced, or big fixer uppers.’”
“As the ambitions of sellers and demands of buyers collide, Maddente said, ‘our biggest difficulty is holding deals together.’”
The Star Tribune from the Twin Cities. “In April, Marie Senn found the home of her dreams, a condo that hadn’t even gone on the market yet. Then she fell into a nightmare of a mortgage, a type of adjustable-rate mortgage known as an option ARM. ‘I was a young buyer,’ said Senn. ‘I’d never heard of this loan,’ she said. ‘There are so many things that I wish I knew then.’”
“‘If I was in charge of the world, they wouldn’t exist.’ said Kris Wilson, a loan officer in Bloomington. Wilson said she has seen a growing number of lenders put people like Senn into option ARM”s by enticing them with the possibility of extremely low payments.
“‘It sounds like the streets are paved with gold,’ Wilson said. ‘But people don’t realize how big a trouble they can get into, and then they quickly end up upside down.’”
“That’s where Senn was headed. Her payments eventually would have tripled from a low payment that came with her option ARM if she hadn’t just refinanced into a fixed-rate mortgage, which still leaves her strapped with higher monthly payments than she had planned. ‘I want to put this behind me,’ she said.”
“‘There are risks with a loan like this, but it’s still a good product,’ said Ewald, of the Minnesota Mortgage Association. ‘In an ideal world, you’ve got wonderfully educated consumers working with caring loan officers.’”
By looking long and hard without making any offers, she said, ‘buyers are waiting to see how low prices will go.’”
That’s me!
I’ve seen houses that were 290k in late 2004 go to 400k in late 2005, and they’re back to 320k right now. Pretty soon even people who bought houses in 2004 will be underwater.
If you add in the upkeep and broker fees, they’re already underwater
Me, too. I suspect that a disproportionate percentage of the sales that are occurring now, are Gen-Xers who, with their flashbulb-length attention spans and expectation of instant gratification, are all too willing to buy into the NAR line that the recent paltry reductions mean that that “now is the time to buy.”
Just wait till the promised “Spring revival” fails to materialize, and a huge overhang of properties taken off or withheld from the market in hopes of better days, suddenly floods the market as hopes and delusions evaporate.
You want to see this dynamic on a much shorter time frame, check out the falling PS3 prices on Ebay.
Speculators on a PS3 bubble? Heh heh heh!
Hey arroyo,
If you’re stil around…I posted a response to your “bits buckets” post RE: Santa Barbara county anomalous median price change. The results of a quick’n'dirty analysis of the zip code sales data are pretty interesting, IMO.
You mean all those nose-pickers who camped out for 40 hours to buy a PS3 in hopes of getting “bling-bling” on eBay are having their hopes dashed?
Forgive my misty eyes….
Yep. I’ve seen the asking prices come down from 4K and up to 1K which is still almost double. But the desperation on some of the ads is palpable and you can tell the anticipated profits were spent before being acquired.
I guess the PS3 buyers who did not risk getting shot while waiting in line now run the risk of catching a falling knife?
It’s a f*cking video game. Doesn’t the market just flood with this stuff in short order? Full disclosure, I’ve never played a video game in my life.
Is there any way to short that?
Josh
like, what’s a flashbulb dude?
and the gov wuill bail us is the new mindset w free healthcare etc
housing is a right”!
“I suspect that a disproportionate percentage of the sales that are occurring now, are Gen-Xers who, with their flashbulb-length attention spans and expectation of instant gratification”
I will definitely agree that some gen-xers fit this desciption, but not all. I started looking to buy a home in June 2001 and prices were already starting to take off. Still renting and will do so until it makes financial sense to buy.
There may have never, ever been a bettter time to be a looky-loo!
“In April, Marie Senn found the home of her dreams, a condo that hadn’t even gone on the market yet. Then she fell into a nightmare of a mortgage, a type of adjustable-rate mortgage known as an option ARM. ‘I was a young buyer,’ said Senn. ‘I’d never heard of this loan,’ she said. ‘There are so many things that I wish I knew then.’”
So Marie “fell into” her nightmare mortage? Was she pushed by evil gnomes, or entranced into a zombie state by some voodoo priestess? Or did she, like so many of her empty-headed peers, decide her entitlement to her “dream house” (a freakin’ condo?!!!) overrode any need for prudence and due dilligence in entering into the costliest purchase most people will ever make?
This isn’t a case of Little Red Riding Hood being conned by the Big Bad Wolf. Marie is just another cautionary tale of greed and stupidity facilitated by irresponsible lending.
Right, a single 24 yo just has to have that dream condo.
For the price of that iPod she just had to have too, Marie could’ve consulted with a real estate lawyer who would’ve explained the fine print on the mortage agreement that she was too stupid to read or comprehend.
I would have said “irresponsible breeding.”
LOL
That’s the larger problem.
And it grows larger by the day.
I went into a Walmart on Friday on an anthropological mission following your earlier comments. I must concur with your conclusion. After being stalked by the species bovine humungous for a few minutes, I left.
LOL. You couldn’t just take my word for it?
I’m trying to talk some of my cronies into helping me with a little prank. I want to change the sign at the local Wal-Mart to read “Museum of Unnatural Society.”
I just got back from the local wal-mart an hour ago. What I witnessed cannot be explained by normal genetic progression. Half the store shouldn’t have been capable of walking upright and I ended up in line behind a female (I believe) that had a physique only vaguely familiar to me. Upon starting my car it finally dawned on me that she must have been a gargoyle in a past life or perhaps even this one. I’m applying for my conceal & carry permit on monday. This isn’t funny. Something really bad is going on here.
‘I want to put this behind me,’ she said.”
It is.
‘In an ideal world, you’ve got wonderfully educated consumers working with caring loan officers.’”
Yeah. And in an ideal world Casey Serin and David Lereah would be arguing in their prison cell over who gets to play who in their nightly game of “The Escaped Convict Meets the Warden’s Wife.”
‘In an ideal world, you’ve got wonderfully educated consumers working with caring loan officers.’
Isn’t this what fairy tales are made of?
Bubba think it ideal if Casey was his cellmate.
Bubba want to pet Casey.
Loan officers Bubba no like.
They squish too easy.
Casey would get to know Bubba’s world.
Bubba smile thinking what Casey do when he trapped in Bubba’s world.
LOL. Hilarious!
This “educated consumer” argument never works. Even an educated consumer can only spend a fraction of his lifetime studying his choices for a particular product. How can he compete against thousands of people whose full-time job it is to manipulate data and emotions for the industry propaganda? This will never be a level playing field …
Has anyone seen the ad in today’s LA Times New Homes section for a condo auction in Azusa? I guess the builder can’t sell the condos?? There are 34 “spectacular” condos with minimum bids from $185k!! This is a discount of up to 38% from previous selling prices! Image the people who bought higher… Already underwater!! Better buy now!! The ball is just starting to roll…
Thanks. I’ll have to grab that paper. Azusa huh…
I know a company that’s sold their buildings in Azusa and seem to be clearing them out (rent back, short term). This is just the start…
Why an Auction this time of year? That’s desperation.
Neil
“Why an Auction this time of year? That’s desperation.”
Just another marketing gimmick! All the shills were leaving town next weekend, so he had to do it now. Seriously, if he cut the price 38% on all his remaining condo’s, he would move these puppies today. The builder is still looking for that 1 last seminar junkie that thinks there are deals at an auction
In an ideal world, you’ve got wonderfully educated consumers working with caring loan officers.
ROTFLMAO!!! Yeah, when pigs fly.
Poll idea: Which will come first?
[ ] All Consumers are Educated About Borrowing
[ ] Caring Loan Officers
It will happen. Give ‘em five years. Let’s see:
1) Consumers might be a bit more educated about borrowing after seeing half of their friends having been totally screwed by stupid loans. Just as people who grew up in the 30’s learned a new mindset.
2) Not sure about “caring”, but loan officers will be a lot more “cautious” after all this loose lending shakes out and the disastrous consequences become apparent
I assure you, Caring Loan Officers will come last. My uneducated clientele of borrowers do send me Xmas cards thanking me for getting them into their trailer-park homes. They may wise up some day, but I promise you I am a profiteer, not an altruist. To the extent that there is a mutual benefit, that’s fine, I don’t begrudge them their sense that I have done them a favor ! But I have NOT done them a favor. I prefer Cash which is King.
A honest man …….
woman
I have a question, az_lender, and I am not jumping on you in any way. You run a business and you’re not paid to be “caring” whatever that means. But when your uneducated clientele comes in for a pay-option ARM do you try to explain the dangers of them or is your attitude more “caveat emptor”? Is it the case that people are so gosh-darn-set on their dream house that if you try to tell them something sensible they will just go to another lender who won’t care?
You haven’t been paying attention. Option arm’s or arms are probably not on the menu for az_lender
Grant,
az_lender’s market niche is, from my understanding of her previous posts, seniors with minimal assets on Social Security pensions who want to buy a lot in an RV park, and a trailer to put on the lot and live in.
She lends them her own money, and I think she posted once she never went longer than 10 years.
Correct, thanks for paying attention. Actually I do go to 15 years sometimes.
Person
http://www.mytrailerpark.com/
Az Lender — are these your Christmas card clients? Wait’ll I tell them their trailer park is on a Superfund site….
ha ha, it could happen!
They will start caring when lending deregulation goes out of fashion and a rule of law comes back into fashion.
The Mpls/St Paul market is basically dead now, but I’m not sure what to make of it. Most homes have been taken off the market for winter. Earlier there were “for sale” signs everywhere… now not so much. I see a few but not many at all.
But again, unlike In San Diego and Miami and LV and so on, winter actually means something here. Who wants to house shop in 20 degree winter or a snowstorm?
we’ll see what happens come spring. I suspect a blitzkrieg of listings again…
HIC, any intel on the condo market in msp? Specifically NW corner? thanks.
Condos are dead dead dead.
There are so many big name projects coming on line, and fast. But the bloom is off the rose for most of these.
The problem with the condo segment in general
1) a lot of it is “high end” and “luxury”, and priced that way
2) There are so many of the darn things, everywhere
3) many of the condos aren’t really in good locations. (like in parking lots of business centers, near crack neighborhoods, as example)
4) many of the condos don’t make sense. Why on Earth would someone live in a condo in a 2nd/3rd ring suburb? land is pretty available out there… there’s no vibrant things to walk to, etc.
I don’t know specifically about the NW corner (don’t live out that way, hardly ever go there), but I have friends who just sold their townhouse in Maple Grove MN (first/second ring NW suburb) and they had to take almost 20% less than a similar unit in their complex got last year. The couple has a second townhouse (he lived in one, she the other). The plan was to sell both townhomes and then buy a house. But the condo/townhome market in Maple Grove is so bad that it took them 5 months to sell his, at 20% less than their original asking price (which was equal to what one sold for last year). Thus, they decided to just stay in hers for now.
I do drive along Hwy 394 a lot, and there are a lot of condos/townhomes along 394. There are some near 394 and hwy 100 (straight west of Mpls half way towards Minnetonka). Again, I must ask WHY on earth you’d want to live in a condo just off a major interstate, in the middle of office complexes (specifically, right in the General Mills Office complex)???????
anyway, some of the buildings look like they’re being scrapped. One we went to was a cool building. Building #1 was built, and only 1/2 sold. Building #2 had the skeleton and outside part built, but no walls or interior finishes. The Building #3 was just a concrete slab. We talked to the builder, he has halted all construction on the buildings until building #1 sells out. Then he said he is finishing #2 only if it sells. He said Building #3 would never happen.
That doesn’t sound good to me at all. (sorry, I forget the name of the complex… it’s right off Hwy 394 and 100, and it has a big sign you can see from 394 that says something like “city living right here in the heart of the action” (whatever that means… it should say “boring suburban living near General Mills Office Building”)
we also went to the Parade of Homes condo segment here in Mpls/SP a few weeks ago. usually, you can go in walk around and be left alone to snoop. this time we got the major hard sell and they kept hounding us to buy buy buy. That’s never happened before.
And then again it comes back to competition. The Carlyle is just about finished. Skyscape is just about finished (2 highrises in downtown). There is the “Loop” and then 3 others around Lake Calhoun being finished, all big (I forget their names off hand). There is the “Nicollett” in downtown, which would be one of the tallest buildings in downtown that is supposedly starting to go up soon. There is “Mozaic” in uptown which is soon to be built (15 stories or something). Then there’s the Midtown lofts that just finished (hundreds of units) and also a 3 square block tract of condos that are going up along the Midtown Greenway - it’s between 28th and 29th streets, from Aldrich to Bryant to Colfax. (1 block done and sold, 2nd block done and selling, 3rd block is razed, and starting–I can’t remember if the third block is between Lyndale and Aldrich, or between Colfax and Dupont)
Just right there we’re talking THOUSANDS of condos. and they are pricey. who is gonna live there? who can afford $400k to $1Mill for a smallish condo?
And the NW condo segment is competing with that. Plus, NW is considered a “working class” area for the most part (it’s changing somewhat, but not tons yet) and so it’s not like it has a draw of it’s own. It’s also not the greatest commute from up that way, although they are building out the interstate to make it not so grueling.
Overall, I actually feel that our market IS a little different up in the Twin Cities only due to the fact that our area is still affordable, and incomes easily justify prices. EXCEPT for new construction, far out construction (3rd/4th ring suburbs) and condos. That is where our huge fundamental breakdown occurs.
For the price of a small 750 sq ft “luxury” loft condo (so like no walls or separation of space) you can buy a 2000 sq ft well built 30-100 year old home in a nice neighborhood. For the price of a large 2000 sq ft condo you can buy a 5,000 to 10,000 sq ft home in a great area. WTF?
Thanks for the lengthy update. Sounds like the market has frozen up nicely.
What I’m seeing here on the East Metro Twin Cities, Inspector, are still tons of For Sale signs (many with ‘Reduced!’ or ‘New Price!” tags), and quite a few with ‘For Rent’ signs, in areas that have never been traditional rental housing.
The city of Maplewood has okayed the sale of a tourist cabin/trailer park near Lake Phalen that is going to be replaced with high-density (apartment/condo) housing. The site is being prepared for construction right now. The stupid thing is, the Phalen neighborhood over in St. Paul already has a new housing surplus from all the row housing and condos built on the East Side. This new development is being pitched as ‘lakeshore condos only ten minutes from the Capitol!” We’ll see.
On my own street we’ve had three homes go on the market since September. One typical 3 BR rambler sold quickly, no price reduction. The older couple living in it priced it right the first time.
One 5 BR, 4 BA quite nice home up the street was listed last week by a flipper for $30,000/10 % less than he’d paid for it last autumn (and that doesn’t include the paint, appliances, lawn maintenance, taxes and other expenses he put into it), and a ‘Sold’ sign is now on it. We’ll see if it actually closes.
The house across the street from it is smaller, hand built by a carpenter (a lot of these homes were built by the homeowners in the 1950s). Very charming, but it’s been on the market three weeks now without a buyer.
Then she fell into a nightmare of a mortgage, a type of adjustable-rate mortgage known as an option ARM. ‘I was a young buyer,’ said Senn. ‘I’d never heard of this loan,’ she said
Arggghh!! How did we go from “wear your best suit and meet with the banker” to this? It’s true that (young) buyers need to be smart and do their research, but at least in the past it wasn’t so easy to completely ruin your life by trusting a lender to not let you do something stupid.
One of my first edicts upon establishing a benevolent dictatorship where I reign supreme as Lord and Master, will be to OUTLAW the transference of home loans to third parties. Lenders who make the loans will be stuck with them for the duration, come what may. That alone would re-impose long-overdue prudence and stringent standards to the lending industry, as they wouldn’t be able to heedlessly flip those dodgy loans onto bag-holding “investors” (cough) in mortage-backed securities.
Oh, and every NAR official and unscrupulous mortage broker would be tarred and feathered on general principle.
Back in the old days of lending lenders had to hold alot of loans for 2 or more years until they became “seasoned “, they call it . By that time lenders would know what kind of payer you had . Now with adjustables, the loan becomes more risky as time goes on, so these early buy-back clauses aren’t going to mean anything except for in the case of fraud where they default immediately .
Mr. Maddente of First Webber Group said: “We don’t have an economic problem - we have a confidence problem.”
No, Mr. Webber. We have an economic problem AND a confidence problem.
#1. The bubble has burst and anyone with a brain who can read between the lines knows property went way out on a limb and became a huge bubble and now property prices are trending down and there doesn’t appear to be anything to break that trend. THAT is the confidence problem. They also know that if the economy turns south in 2007, as many are predicting, that lack of confidence will increase and further strengthen the downward trend.
#2. Again, anyone with a brain who can read, now knows that the toxic loans are the “kiss of financial death” for many who were conned, tricked or greedy enough to think that the world has changed and there is such a thing as a free lunch. There ain’t.
Never has been.
Never will be.
Property prices are beyond the reach of the majority, within the reach of some but the “some” are starting to realize they will be mortgage slaves for years and will be so close to the financial edge, they are only one crisis away from disaster. So, that leaves a minority who are able to afford these ridiculous prices.
Right on Mike …The NAR must think people are pretty stupid to swallow their spin of “good time to buy”. But ,the NAR might be right that people are brain dead and they will buy it ,( the masses have for 5 years ).
The sales realtors got in 2006 where based on” buy now before the rates go up ,or buy now before they tighten loans ,buy now look at all the choices ,buy now it’s going up in 2007 after the speculators are weeded out ,buy now because sellers are giving bargins ,that won’t last”.
I don’t think the general public understands that there is limited amount of buyers for this excess supply at these unaffordable prices. I don’t think the general public understands that the Feds can’t lower interest rates without major problems . Who would buy these low rate loans anyway if rates were lowered ? You would get such a refinance frenzy if they lowered the rates to even 4.95% ,but most without equity or ability to qualify to take advantage of it .
I don’t know about people not being able to refinance. I think our experience over the past 5 years has taught us that as long as there is ample liquidity provided by the Fed and by foreign central banks that the RE complex will find a way. Recently there has been a surge in refinancing. With stagnant or falling home prices, how is that happening? I don’t know.
“There ain’t.
Never has been.
Never will be.”
There was at least the appearance of a free lunch.
Money grew on a giant tree from 1998-2005.
Then the money tree collapsed of its own weight and died.
RIP, real estate money tree.
The tree hasn’t died — yet. But the NAR is trying their damnest to spray-paint the dying leaves green.
“In an ideal world, you’ve got wonderfully educated consumers working with caring loan officers.”
=====
Educated consumers - Educated by whom? MSM is owned by corporations raking in REIC ad revenue. Bloggers don’t have the bucks for a big ad campaign.
Caring loan officers - What a perfect oxymoron!
Ranks right up their with honest Realtors and shrewd real estate investors.
Here’s a good macro article on what we have to look forward to in the real estate market from Gary Shilling courtesy of John Mauldin:
http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/article.asp?id=mwo111706
Excellent article, thanks for posting it.
“We don’t have an economic problem. We have a confidence problem.”
=====
Yeah, confidence…as in confidence schemes…as in confidence men (tip o’ the hat to “House of Games”).
“Then she fell into a nightmare of a mortgage, a type of adjustable-rate mortgage known as an option ARM. ‘I was a young buyer,’ said Senn. ‘I’d never heard of this loan,’ she said. ‘There are so many things that I wish I knew then.’”
———————————————————
I think she conveniently changed the “facts.” She was probable making the lowest payment option because everyone, her friends, family, RE agent, loan officer, said it would appreciate and she could refi. Now she can’t refi so she is playing the naive card. Last year she was a genius and this year she was hoodwinked. Yeah right.
Something very funny just happened. I registered in ziprealty to check the price history of houses around my place and it the areas we might eventually buy in the West suburb in Chicago. Well the real state agent from ziprealty call me to find out when and where we wanted to buy a house. She tells me the usual, real state is local, house prices are going up in Chicagoland, there will be no foreclosures in Chicagoland, you can deduct all the interests in your taxes and that you are giving up money to your landlord. I have told her the truth, I rent a place for 1/2 the costs of buying the same place in the current market, you cannot deduct all your interests in your taxes, there has been overbuilding in the west suburbs (plenty of supply, sales have been low very low lately and that was the reason she was calling me) and I won’t give up 100k profit to someone just because they bought a house in 2000. She was a good saleswoman…at the end she agreed that if you think something is overvalued, you shouldn’t buy it. We might call her whenever we see a house we think it’s worth paying a mortgage and interest to the bank for.
Don’t ever trust a realtor just because they agreed with you . This same realtor that you crushed with logic was willing to sell you a song and dance when she started out her pitch .
I almost had to laugh one time when I called up to ask one question on a listing and the realtor went on for 20 minutes giving me a non-stop sales pitch . I could of hung up the phone and this agent would of never known it and would of kept on talking .
I agree with the others. Dont give her any future business, she just tried to B.S. and only stopped once she knew that you more knowledgeable than she was. Now that she is not selling any more homes to people who cant afford them, she can go back to her prior job at Hooters or the local topless bar. Oh I forgot, all of the r.e. agents and loan officers that used to frequent the place can no longer go there since they haven’t closed any deals lately and their wives won’t let them waste any money on lap dances.
Actually, I do not blame her. I mean real state agents are sales people. They are not financial advisers. They are there to make a profit and if you do not educate yourself when buying a house, you might deserve to be a GF or FB. Most people do some research before buying a car, so it would make a lot of sense to do the same when you are going to get into debt for a looot of money. The same about banks, they are there to make a profit and they will try to sell you the financial instrument which generates more money for them.
I bought a place in The Netherlands when I was living there only because it was cheaper to buy my place than renting it with a regular mortgage and some money down (not much that’s true). The bank tried a I/O ARM and I said no, the bank tried to lend me the maximum amount I could qualify and I said no.
Why on earth would you call an RE harpy who just tried to con you?
She called me. I have no interest in talking with a realtor whatsoever…I am doing fine checking things online myself and realizing how much “profit” sellers want to get from their houses…therefore not buying yet, I refuse to be a sucker
save 5% click on the net- find a listing about to die and give it the” hey buddy, see you soon”
We are thinking the same way Sammy .
Here’s a question just out of sheer curiosity. It’s obvious that zip reality is nothing more than a very sophisticated web-based direct response ad. The real estate agent at the end of the day is a profesional salesperson. If you respond to the ad and she goes thru her script which is her job. She’s pleasant, not pushy and at the end of the conversation agrees with you. Why wouldn’t you use her. Not defending her just out of curiosity.
mrinconmestream, I agree. The price to use ziprealty is that you are added in their customers’ (or future customers) prospective list. She was just a sales person, a little pushy but she was smart enough to change the tune once she saw that wouldn’t work with me. I might use her in the future (whenever the financials make sense to buy) depending on her fee and level of service.
I don’t want to hear a bogus sales pitch from a salesperson ,especially when it’s a lie . Just ask me what I’m looking for and what price range . Don’t tell me that the market is going to explode next year and I better buy now etc. etc. etc. Just drive me to the fu-king houses .
Wiz…
How many times in your career have you asked someone what price range and what they were looking for and they did a 360 degree turn and bought something totally off of what they told you. How many times have you showed someone something that was off their list of wants and they bought it. In my case a lot. Zip is optional if you don’t want the game don’t use their service. NAM’s approach and thought process was fair and that’s all you can ask for. But like I said I was just curious.
mrincomescream …I guess my point is that I don’t need a realtor to lie to me with the NAR talking points .You know ,don’t try to con me into buying a house by telling me that it’s a great time to buy etc. ,the whole urgency bit .
When I was in the business I would stay away from any projections of future gains .
When I was working I felt I didn’t need to lie and I really didn’t care if the deal flew or not .
Sure people change their mind from what they originally tell you and sometimes you know what they want even more than they do and you help them pinpoint that .
But, this whole rah rah cheerleader stuff to keep a mania market going ,with bogus selling points ,trying to justify absurb prices went to far IMHO.
You can also find past sales in the real estate section of the Chicago Tribune online and also on township assessor websites.
“‘You can tell if a property is overpriced. It sticks out like a sore thumb,’ said Realtor Bonnie Duffin, who works in Milwaukee. ‘Buyers are going down too low on some properties.’”
Ah, so there’s the pitch - if lots of properties are priced at a level at which people cannot buy them without “exotic” mortgages, and thus not moving, causing huge inventory buildup, it’s not that people need to cut prices to a level commensurate with actual incomes, it’s that buyers have unreasonable expectations! You should expect to pay twice as much to buy you would to rent!
‘It’s the old ‘irresistible force meets immovable object’ law.
Why do writers portray this as stubborn and vindictive buyers exercising “payback.”
The writers never seem to interview buyers who say “Prices are so much above rents that it makes financial sense to rent.”
The “stubborn” buyers are simply realizing that since we will no longer have double digit appreciation, it doesn’t make sense to buy when renting is so much cheaper.
On the flipside, I’m not sure what the “stubborn” sellers’ rational response it. Maybe “I tried to make a killing flipping houses, and now I’m stuck, so somebody please help me before I go bankrupt!”