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102 Comments
- AmyVernon, on 10/22/2008, -4/+57Considering how much money they made off the price run-up, I just can't be anything but amused by this.
- WordsnCollision, on 10/22/2008, -0/+47"Spare the jokes"? That's an invitation!
- openthink, on 10/22/2008, -3/+43Realtor FAIL. Will they waive the commission?
- LastDitchHero, on 10/23/2008, -2/+33I hate to bad mouth realtors but out of all commission based sales jobs they can get away with more and they do far less actual work.
- FIJIMAN1969, on 10/23/2008, -2/+24I'm a Realtor. Been one for the past 3 years so I missed the crazy money years. Now I sell bank owned homes along with working with buyers. I love the comments on how easy the commissions are and what little Realtors do. Lets see: I've walked into 2 of my listings to find gang bangers inside and had to call the cops, I've had mold, dead animals, filth, and have seen things that nobody should see. I've taken buyers to over 50 houses before they purchased one. I've taken buyers to over 50 houese and then they decide to wait for the market to drop more. I work 7 days a week since this is not a 9 to 5 job and calls come at all times. I've spend thousands of dollars on a listing to advertise it only for the seller to cancel the listing and I'm out the cash. Please try to know a little about what you are talking about before you post. That said, I agree with a previous post regarding the intelligence of Realtors. The majority are ignorant and I am surprised they make it through the day. You just cant lump them together. And of course I have to ask: Anybody want to buy a house?
- flashpointbob, on 10/23/2008, -1/+22I can do that too, and I am not a Realtor.
My apartment is a spacious one bedroom with a stunning view. Its fully furnished kitchen has ample space for cooking and a family meal! A must have for anyone aspiring to educational enlightenment.
Which means I live in a small *****, the kitchen is tiny, the view looks out onto a tree and some frat parties. And the only person who would be dumb enough to live here is a college student. - SkippyDoorknob, on 10/23/2008, -0/+18I always wanted to sell my neighbors house. The look on his face would be priceless when the new owners showed up.
- thcobbs, on 10/23/2008, -0/+18Actually, that would be a "cozy" apartment with great character. The view is arboreal with lively neighbors and a must have for the day-student.
- lukegravitt, on 10/23/2008, -0/+16Terrible title.
- BeShirtHappy, on 10/22/2008, -1/+16My feelings exactly.
- drlha, on 10/23/2008, -0/+14No, its not moronic at all. It tells you that the house is being sold without a real estate agent being involved, and you'll be dealing directly with the person who actually owns the property. This isn't the normal way things work, most properties are sold by real estate agents on behalf of a seller, and the buyer doesn't deal with the seller at all (I recently bought a house and never even met the seller).
- SillyRabbits, on 10/23/2008, -0/+13Yes, it was ridiculous in the US. For the past year, all of the real estate people were coming on the financial news programs and regular news programs saying how everything was still wonderful and it was still a great time to buy (they even had the spokesperson for the national realtors association saying the same thing). While during the same time, all of the 'actual' financial people had been saying for more than TWO years that things were clearly overvalued and the market couldn't support the current prices. The only thing that matters to a realtor is that you buy and that they get a commission. The only thing that distinguishes one from the next is how well they make you think they actually care about putting you in a great house at a great price.
- Trekhawk, on 10/23/2008, -1/+13At least they have a sense of humor about the situation.
- forthegift, on 10/23/2008, -1/+13Some realtors in my town still pretend things are fine or will be any day. Not all but some still think they can talk people into paying anything
- MacBookForMe, on 10/22/2008, -0/+12They are a serious scum in Britain as well:)
- kellfinder, on 10/23/2008, -4/+15How many realtors talked buyers into spending more than they should while pushing them towards those outrageous loans? Too many!!!!
- wickensworth, on 10/23/2008, -3/+14(Lol Wtf) -LMAO- [PIC} Digg this [FAIL] WTF? (Sob, funny)
- dha07030, on 10/23/2008, -0/+11Price is set by the market, It's is the job of the agent to sell the house. If the house is over priced it will not move as quickly. There for an accurately priced house is BETTER for the agent. I have my real estate license in New Jersey and that's is my experience. Than again I am not the pushy sleaze ball type and do more rentals than sales.
- plainOldFool, on 10/23/2008, -1/+11I know a guy who was a realtor. He tried everything he could do to get the sellers to lower their asking prices and no one would budge. Houses didn't get sold and he was let go. It's not always the realtor's fault.
- inactive, on 10/23/2008, -0/+8I don't get it.
- SillyRabbits, on 10/23/2008, -0/+8Puffles, for people that actually buy houses, it does mean something important. It means that there's not a realtor acting as a middleman collecting a 6%+ commission. On a $400k home that's almost a $25k difference.
- LastDitchHero, on 10/23/2008, -0/+7Ok, I'll give you that you are hard working. But how many times do you not show a recent listing cause you are worried about other houses with contracts that are about to expire? You may have seen those nasty homes but it isn't the real estate agent doing the clean up. They hire usually a specialized team of contractors who do a clean up and touch up job. So what you had gang bangers, you called the cops. Yes you may have taken one person to 50 homes but what if those 50 homes where 300K + homes. Even if they weren't you don't even talk about the people who may just go to 3 homes and pick one.
All sales jobs are hard. My brother is a stock broker and is liable for ensuring his clients assets are reasonably managed. Can you get sued if you put someone in a house that is less than what it is worth or it is more than they can afford? Well some lawyers are trying now but it won't work. My brother can get sued for mismatching risk with risk tolerance even if the client signs a document saying that they understand the risks.
Spending thousands of dollars advertising? Lies again, if you would have said hundreds I would have believed you. Maybe even a grand.
I have friends who are real estate agents. I know the dirty tricks. Yes, your job isn't 9 to 5. Neither are a lot of other jobs. I am pretty sure you weren't fooled into think so when you wanted to be one either. Want 9 to 5? Go into property management. - SillyRabbits, on 10/23/2008, -2/+9He's probably only selling to move on to a more active market - not because he lost his shirt and is going out of business. He's probably done just fine in the market there. It's everybody else in that area that's left with the properties with declining values (as a realtor he had zero risk). He's moving to a more attractive host - just like any good parasite.
- ChristmasPoo, on 10/23/2008, -1/+7I once worked for a high profile realtor. What I've found is that a realtor's intelligence is inversely proportional to the amount of money they make.
- StultusJuventus, on 10/23/2008, -4/+10the realtors weren't the problem - the lending system was!
- thcobbs, on 10/23/2008, -0/+6Well, that's why I fired my first agent.... She was being too pushy about things that I knew were bad investments. Remember, not all the blame lands on the seller.
- nemo001, on 10/23/2008, -3/+8Realtors take a bad rap. They are, among other things, the masters of hyperbole, and adjectives. Using words like spacious, homey and stunning takes talent. All kidding aside, I do not like realtors. Trying to get a 6% commission for doing very little is like someone taking my money and giving it to someone who doesn't deserve it or who hasn't earned it.
- aywwts4, on 10/23/2008, -0/+5Indeed, he doesn't own their houses, a real estate agent has nothing to loose but the percentage home prices decreased, It's the property owners that end up owing more than their homes are worth.
- Sparticuz, on 10/23/2008, -1/+6Don't Go!!! They'll steal your organs and then kill you!
- clickwir, on 10/23/2008, -1/+6I don't get it. How do you know it's a Realtor?
- ElectroStep, on 10/23/2008, -1/+5Moving to island?
- LastDitchHero, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4garrettg84, did I say a realtor should be liable, no. I said in other sales industries in particular stock brokerage, you can be liable for mismatching risk. What due diligence does a real estate agent have? The title company ensure no liens are against the property, the home inspector makes sure that nothing is screwed up on the house, the loan officer approves loan, the property assessor ensure the value of the home. All of these people have liability to ensure the home stuff is in order. The real estate agent has none.
Yes, I do believe a lot of people where foolish in buying these homes but I was stating that real estate agents have it pretty easy for high paid commissioned sales people as they have no liability. - veriix, on 10/23/2008, -1/+5What do you expect them to say?
- mesmeriffic, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4It's common practice to be aware of another person's agenda, otherwise you're going to get screwed out of your money.
- ElectroStep, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4Well they're going to need to get their tollerance up so they can play the drinking games.
Nice country to live in actually. - garrettg84, on 10/23/2008, -1/+5@SillyRabbits
I'm not in the real estate business. 10 hours of work for 6% of the sale price. You are an idiot.
You ever see old people that go out looking at houses simply because the are bored or lonely? It happens ALOT. How about people with almost zero income and look at houses well above their budget? All of this wastes the time of realtors. Think about the hours and hours spent driving themselves insane at open houses. For the majority of the people out there, they have a realtor show them around to at least 20 or 30 properties before even thinking of buying a house. This is NOT the equivalent to 10 hours worth of work.
After all that time invested, real estate deals fall through. Then back to the drawing board. While there are realtors that are asshats being pushy and refusing to work with you without a prequal letter(illegal in some states), the majority of them are decent people. They spend alot of time for the money they earn. I bet you don't work 6 days a week + nights and weekends, whenever a client calls. - stellamaris, on 10/23/2008, -2/+6"Doing very little"? Maybe you should try it one day.
- XMorbius, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4"As the others said, when prices got too high, people stopped buying. People listing homes didn't want to lower prices because they wanted to get as much as they could. I think it's the sellers, not the agents, who are greedy."
I think you have an interesting point here. Perhaps this is another example of society looking for someone else to blame for their problems. It makes no sense for someone to hold out for far more than their home is worth, just as much as it doesn't make sense to sell someone a home they can't pay for. At the same time though, why on earth should we expect anyone else to know what we can or can't pay off realistically?
People generally know what they make and where their money comes from, hence they should have the responsibility to use credit properly. And in that same vein, if their house isn't selling for a significant amount of time, they should know they're asking too much.
All said and done though, we all know both groups have some blame in this. The real estate agents aren't pure evil, but the buyers and sellers are far from innocent too. - LastDitchHero, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4Just keep it up man, things will get better.
- Clumber, on 10/23/2008, -1/+4When I was but a wee child, maybe like 3 or 4, we lived in a rental house with a VERY odd landlord living about 4 doors down, on the other side of the street. Anytime we were gone on some sort of trip, be it a week vacation to visit family, or just the weekend going camping... everytime we got back home, he had staked out the yard with 6 or 7 FOR RENT signs and occasionally FOR SALE BY OWNER as well. After awhile, my dad would just sigh, then stack all the signs in the garage, hidden. The landlord just kept buying more... can't imagine why we moved. :-)
Oh yeah, and once my dad did a bit of old school photoshopping of some (involving an exacto knife, masking tape, and bitterness) and altered it to say "FOR SALE - OWNER - cheap!!" - stellamaris, on 10/23/2008, -2/+5I agree with dha and plainoldfool. My mom is a real estate agent, and one of the top sellers in her community. After years of meaningless, low-paying, unfulfilling jobs, she got her real estate license in 1999. She was born to help people find a home. She loves her job, but it's extremely demanding and stressful.
As the others said, when prices got too high, people stopped buying. People listing homes didn't want to lower prices because they wanted to get as much as they could. I think it's the sellers, not the agents, who are greedy. One old woman had my brother clean out her entire junky house, and then didn't even list with my mother because my mom told her to lower her asking price. That was 3 years ago, and her house is still for sale, now lowered to the price my mother originally suggested.
My mom gets 3% commission, 6% if she sells a house that she is listing. When she doesn't have a settlement for 3 months (which has happened) she gets nothing for all her hard work. - Jonsend, on 10/23/2008, -1/+4At least he's not moving to Iceland.
- gametavern, on 10/23/2008, -0/+3But the ISLAND moved last season. Stay tuned in January.
- myk7, on 10/23/2008, -0/+3From realtor to realtor.. well said.
- JoeMcMonagle, on 10/23/2008, -0/+3Yeah the reflections are all wrong. Definitely photoshopped
- SillyRabbits, on 10/23/2008, -0/+3Of course most of that work revolves around getting buyers and sellers to go through them as opposed to somebody else (so they will get their commission). It may be work, but it not the type of work that actually provides any real benefit to the buyers/sellers.
- mohsenxp, on 10/23/2008, -0/+3^ We have a Realtor amongst us!!
- JustinHopewell, on 10/23/2008, -0/+3Donmanguno, theres a difference between making an honest dollar and one stained by unethical practice.
- SillyRabbits, on 10/23/2008, -0/+3@garrettg84
I won't disagree that, at times, realtors provide a service and can be useful. My disdain comes from how the industry operates as a whole. Especially how they are spending heavily to lobby for legislation requiring that all real estate transaction go through agents (thus killing the FSBO world). I have a real issue with an industry that is essentially trying to impose a government mandated commission on any sale I may make (even if I do all the work). Having somebody else make an automatic 6% return on my investment property, when I was the one that put all the money at risk, is insanity in my opinion - especially when their total time investment may have amounted to little more than a few hours of paperwork. - nemo001, on 10/23/2008, -1/+4Precisely
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