Even with the ongoing and continued depressed housing market inundated with foreclosures and low home prices, Realtors are still in the same old mentality of...give me my 6% commission. Add to this the Idiot Mortgage Brokers still running ads for loans for people they know they can't qualify.
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Lets face it, Realtors never learn, they couldn't even make it working at fast food so they are screwing up the economy selling homes.
ReplyDeleteI concur, Realtors and Mortgage Brokers are solely responsible for the housing crisis in America. They should all be put to death.
ReplyDeleteIf you want America to be fixed and a better life for us all. then neither The Democrats or the Republicans will do it ...
ReplyDeleteIt will mean more big business, more bankruptcies, more foreclosures, more stupid asshole Realtors and Mortgage People stealing your money, and higher prices combined with the market flooded with unskilled cheap labor from Illegals that will be building your homes, apartments, condos, and commercial property ... wake-up America.
CALLING BS ON REALTORS: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY:
ReplyDeleteAnd now I have come across another reason to forego an agent and go FSBO (For Sale By Owner).
In their study, “The Value of Information in Real Estate Transactions,” Steven D. Levitt(University of Chicago and American Bar Foundation, author of the bestselling book Freakonomics) and Chad Syverson (University of Chicago and NBER), looked into the behavior of real estate agents to try to figure out whether they were doing the best jobs they could for the clients who were paying them. Their conclusion:
"Our favored interpretation of the data is that the combination of real estate agents’ information advantage and the form of the commission received combine to create distortions from first best. Homeowners are induced by their agents to sell too quickly and at a price that is too low."
The study is 34 pages long, but in a nut shell, they compared what happened when an agent sold a home for a client against what happened when an agent sold his own home. They found that:
"agents sell their own homes for 3.7 percent (roughly $7,600) more than they sell their client’s homes, and leave their (own) houses on the market roughly 10 days (10 percent) longer."
So if we do a little math, hiring an agent will cost you a 6% fee, and another 3.7% because the agent cares more about moving your house quickly than about squeezing the most out of the deal for you. That is a hair less than 10%. On a $500,000 home that means your agent costs you almost $50,000, and on a $1,000,000 home, that is $100,000. If you don’t have much equity in your home, that $50,000 might come in handy for something else.
Foreclosed homes occupied by homeless
ReplyDeleteCLEVELAND OHIO - The nation's foreclosure crisis has led to a painful irony for homeless people: On any given night they are outnumbered in some cities by vacant houses, and some street people are taking advantage of the opportunity by becoming squatters.
Foreclosed homes often have an advantage over boarded-up and dilapidated houses abandoned because of rundown conditions: Sometimes the heat, lights and water are still working.
"That's what you call convenient," said James Bertan, 41, an ex-convict and self-described "bando," or someone who lives in abandoned houses.
While no one keeps numbers of below-the-radar homeless finding shelter in properties left vacant by foreclosure, homeless advocates agree the locations even with utilities cut off would be inviting to some. There are risks for squatters, including fires from using candles and confrontations with drug dealers, prostitutes, copper thieves or police.
"Many homeless people see the foreclosure crisis as an opportunity to find low-cost housing (FREE!) with some privacy," Brian Davis, director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, said in the summary of the latest census of homeless sleeping outside in downtown Cleveland.
The census had dropped from 40 to 17 people. Davis, a board member of the National Coalition for the Homeless, cited factors including the availability of shelter in foreclosed homes, aggressive sidewalk and street cleaning and the relocation of a homeless feeding site. He said there are an average 4,000 homeless in Cleveland on any given night. There are an estimated 15,000 single-family homes vacant due to foreclosure in Cleveland and suburban Cuyahoga County.
In Texas, Larry James, president and chief executive officer of Central Dallas Ministries, said he wasn't surprised that homeless might be taking advantage of vacant homes in residential neighborhoods beyond the reach of his downtown agency.
"There are some campgrounds and creek beds and such where people would be tempted to walk across the street or climb out of the creek bed and sneak into a vacant house," he said.
Bertan, who doesn't like shelters because of the rules, said he has been homeless or in prison for drugs and other charges for the past nine years. He has noticed the increased availability of boarded-up homes amid the foreclosure crisis.
He said a "fresh building" recently foreclosed offered the best prospects to squatters.
"You can be pretty comfortable for a little bit until it gets burned out," he said as he made the rounds of the annual "stand down" where homeless in Cleveland were offered medical checkups, haircuts, a hot meal and self-help information.
Shelia Wilson, 50, who was homeless for years because of drug abuse problems, also has lived in abandoned homes, and for the same reason as Bertan: She kept getting thrown out of shelters for violating rules. "Every place, I've been kicked out of because of drugs," she said.
Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, hasn't seen evidence of increased homeless moving into foreclosed homes but isn't surprised. He said anecdotal evidence candles burning in boarded-up homes, a squatter killed by a fire set to keep warm shows the determination of the homeless to find shelter.
Davis said Cleveland's high foreclosure rate and the proximity of downtown shelters to residential neighborhoods has given the city a lead role in the homeless/foreclosure phenomenon.
Many cities roust homeless from vacant homes, which more typically will be used by drug dealers or prostitutes than a homeless person looking for a place to sleep, Stoops said.
Police across the country must deal with squatters and vandalism involving vacant homes:
• In suburban Shaker Heights, which has $1 million homes on wide boulevards, poorer neighborhoods with foreclosed homes get extra police attention.
• East of San Francisco, a man was arrested in November on a code violation while living without water service in a vacant home in Manteca, Calif., which has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.
• In Cape Coral, Fla., a man arrested in September in a foreclosed home said he had been living there since helping a friend move out weeks earlier.
Bertan and Wilson agreed that squatting in a foreclosed home can be dangerous because the locations can attract drug dealers, prostitutes and, eventually, police.
William Reed, 64, a homeless man who walks with a cane, thumbed through a shoulder bag holding a blue-bound Bible, notebooks with his pencil drawings and a plastic-wrapped piece of bread as he sat on a retainer wall in the cold outside St. John Cathedral in downtown Cleveland. He's gone inside empty homes but thinks it's too risky to spend the night.
Even the inviting idea of countless foreclosed empty homes didn't overcome the possible risk of entering a crack house.
"Their brains could be burned up," said Reed, who didn't want to detail where he sleeps at night.
Sometimes it's hard to track where the homeless go.
In Philadelphia, the risk is too great to send case workers into vacant homes to check for homeless needing help, said Ed Speedling, community liaison with Project H.O.M.E. "We're very, very wary of going inside. There's danger. I mean, if the floor caves in. There's potential danger: Sometimes they are still owned by someone," Speedling said.
William Walker, 57, who was homeless for seven years and now counsels drifters at a sprawling warehouse-turned-shelter overlooking Lake Erie, has seen people living in foreclosed homes in his blue-collar neighborhood in Cleveland. He estimated that three or four boarded-up homes in his neighborhood have homeless living there from time to time.
Sometimes homeless men living in tents in a nearby woods disappear from their makeshift homes, Walker said. "The guys who were there last year are not there now. Are they in the (foreclosed) homes? I don't know. They are just not in their places," Walker said.
Overpriced Real Estate
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad they don't have a 'STUPID' category called "Overpriced Piece of Crap" in the real estate for sale section.
Once in a while I try looking through the list for something that might actually be reasonably priced, but most of the listings are simply silly. Most of the sellers are still living in fantasyland. Or maybe it's the real estate agents. Anyway, they're taking up valuable space with their ads.
Are banks still making silly loans to deadbeats? Is this still 2005?
I don't think so.
The Realestate market is booming in Las Vegas
ReplyDeleteThis is when more millionaires are made. Smart people (risk takers) who see an opportunity, such as our housing "slump", buy more property, and simply wait for the market to return, and exceed previous numbers. Most of the "rich" people I know have a lot of real estate, or their parents did. Don't forget, location, location, location!!
The Real Estate market is booming in Las Vegas
ReplyDeleteI dont know why but so many people just "Hate" real estate here in Las Vegas, of course some people hate everything. - But here is the news you wont read in the papers for another month or so.
Pending sales of resale homes has jumped in the last 2 weeks and is at its highest level since March 2006.
Unless the mortgage market crashes again, sales in March will be double the sales of January, and the highest in over a year.
Foreclosures and short sales listed on the MLS have dropped in the first time in over a year.
The median price of an available home in Las Vegas has risen for the first time in over a year.
Quantity of sales have risen in the last 2 months when it is normal for them to drop this time of year.
The number of houses listed for sale on the MLS is the lowest since 3/2006
For those who were waiting for the bottom of the market to buy, guess what, you missed it.
re, The Real Estate market is booming in Las Vegas
ReplyDeleteOnly a REALTOR could make such an idiotic statement.
The economy is bad.
Credit crunch at it's worst in 10-years.
Real Estate is bad.
Wait, the prices are still dropping.
If you can afford investment risk, start buying real estate around November of this year.
The mortgage industry was turned to crap by the greed............
ReplyDeleteLong gone were the days of 20% down (80% LTV), 28% / 36% front end / band end ratios, 2 years minimum on the job (or in the same field), verifiable assets, EXTENSIVE credit evaluations, independent appraisals, and other checks and balances that ensured solid lending practices. The year was 2002-2003, and anyone who could fog a mirror could become a loan officer (greedy salesman). How do I know? I just do, trust me.
Up until around 2005 or 2006, the lenders' and institutional investors' greed drove those guidelines out the window. Trees grow to the sky, right? That means homes would ALWAYS go up 10-15% a year, right? WOW! I can buy a house with no money down, 50% back-end ratio, a mediocre credit score, and a new job with little verification, for 9.5%? That's a little high to qualify me; do you have a short-term starter rate that will allow me to qualify? You DO?!? A 6.5% start rate that adjusts in two years? NO PROBLEM! I'm SURE my financial situation will only get better and I PROMISE not to run my credit cards up! Oh yeah, I'll also work on my credit score...tomorrow; next year at the latest.
Fast forward a year or two, and those same borrowers are in the same position credit-wise, but with more debt. Remember, auto loans were much more lax too; so a couple of $350+ auto payments knocked the debt ratios out of whack (That truck looked so SHINY!). WHAT!!! What do you mean my home value went down??? You've got to be kidding!!! NOW what???
Greed is NOT good. Even Alan Greenspan said he missed the indicators preceding this credit mess.
The fallout? You see it all around the country. All things will pass, this will too. One of the best things to happen is that the non-professionals will be driven out through attrition, and that's a good thing. "Only the strong survive".
Moral of the story? Live below your means, get your financial house in order, learn everything you can about your credit and credit scoring, save 10% of every dollar you make, and, most importantly, treat credit as you would the plague or a bag of rattlesnakes. Believe me, it works. Not overnight, but it's sustainable in good times and bad. Greed is NOT good. Long-term sound financial planning is. It was always that way, and always will be. Invest in yourself; after all, you're the most important thing you've got going for yourself.
re, The mortgage industry was turned to crap by the greed
ReplyDeleteI agree and it was all caused by REALTORS and their stinking 6% commissions.
Then the Mortgage Brokers, who don't loan money, they just are middle men (you can go directly to the loan / mortgage company) finding a loan and charging the consumer all kinds of processing fees plus another 1% commission on top of that.
Now add the kickback to the Title Company, Kickbacks to the Home Insurance Agent, Kickbacks to the Inspectors, Kickbacks to the Warranty Company ... and on and on it goes.
Everybody got paid and the consumer got screwed.
You should ALL be in prison.
If this was the good old days of the cowboy, you would be hunted down by a group of armed vigilantes and hung for the thieves you are.
Fed forecasts inflation, unemployment
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON DC - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered its projection for economic growth this year, citing damage from the double blows of a housing slump and credit crunch. It said it also expects higher unemployment and inflation.
6.0 quake rattles northeastern Nevada
ReplyDeleteNow I want everyone to run out there and buy, yes buy real estate in Nevada........
This announcement brought to you by:
The National Association of REALTORS
Real Estate Agents - STOP CALLING ME!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSTOP CALLING MY HOUSE ALREADY!!! Yes, I know my house just dropped off the MLS and there's a good reason; it's NOT a good time to sell. If I wanted to list my house again, I'd use my previous realtor. And a word of advice, if I say I'm not interested DON'T KEEP PUSHING THE FUCKING POINT!!! That's the kind of behavior that will assure that I'll NEVER EVER deal with you.
Listen slick, I realize that you probably quit your previous teaching or car sales job to ride the real estate boom and now you can't afford the lease payment on your E350, but please LOSE MY NUMBER!!!!
Why the Toll Brothers, Del Webbs, Pultes, & Hortons Must Die.
ReplyDelete• 3.2 million homes built in the US in the last two years.
• 5% of the entire US home population was built in the last two years.
• Less than 1% used an architect---most were built by the mega builders.
• Mega builders owned 25% of all free land that was built upon in the last two years.
• NY Times states that they will own 50% in the next ten years.
• According to Toll Brothers, they expect to own 100% in the next 25 years.
• Mega builders currently own more land then they can build upon in the next 10-20 years.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
This is just one example of how your freedoms are at stake. Instant gratification is destroying this country. Just look around your city. If we keep buying from "Masters of the Expedient" and building up their fortunes, our children aren’t going to have the luxury of choice. And you won’t either.
We all need to apply for credit as Illegals and flood the system - ie, the current mortgage situation happen largely because they allowed for less than good credit for housing loans, Illegals buying property with nothing more than a driving license (or good copies @ nogales border).
ReplyDeleteNow we have emptying houses all over and Banks have gained with the payments made, but cant sell them.
I hope they suffer.
My Bank sucks.
All banks suck.
Seriously do we need the headaches just to receive cash? I have been with B of A at the same branch for 15 yrs and no one has worked there more than a year. Then I get asked the same dumb questions every time - of course its all FREE - I have to bite my tounge not to explain to this High schooler that I allready pay $250 for my free account.
Can't you see I have been banking here for 15 yrs, 3 yrs shy of how old you are. Do you really think I need to ask you for financial advise on my account that has more money in it any given time than what you make per year, I need to be told about whats free today?
How about greeting me and recognizing that I am what keeps this place here - and cash my goddamn check and give me my money!
realtors r stupid
ReplyDeleteBeen in and around the san fran area working on temp assignment.
I do this all the time.
Go from city to city.
Whenever I am bored, which was this weekend....
I will call up some dumbass realtor and have them run me all over looking for a house or condo I will never buy -
why you ask -
because realtors are stupid, they are con artist, they are responsible for the housing crisis as much as those idiot mortgage brokers -
how you ask -
well hell I tell you I say -
by charging six percent (6%) commission thats how.
people have to raise the cost of the home price to make up for the 6% real estate commissions plus other associated fees. This is called inflationary spending.
screw these greedy shits, get a real job like regular people, oh no they can't do that, these realtors will never go back to their jobs in fast food... the money is too easy in real estate screwing the public.
Existing Home Sales Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly a Decade
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON DC- Sales of existing homes fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade in January while the median price for a home dropped for the fifth straight month.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units, the slowest sales pace on records going back to 1999.
The median price of a home sold in January slid to $201,100, a drop of 4.6 percent from a year ago.
The drop in sales and the fifth consecutive decline in prices underscored the continued pressure facing housing, which is struggling to emerge from its worst slump in a quarter-century.
Sales were weak in all parts of the country except the Midwest, where sales posted an increase of 3.4 percent. Sales dropped by 3.6 percent in the Northeast, 2.1 percent in the West and 0.5 percent in the South.
Sales of both existing homes and new homes tumbled for a second straight year in 2007 as the housing industry was battered by a severe credit crunch that hit in August as major financial institutions began reporting multibillion-dollar losses on their investments in risky subprime mortgages, loans made to homeowners with weak credit.
The market for subprime mortgages has essentially dried up and other types of loans have become harder to obtain as lenders have tightened their standards.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, said he believed the housing market may be on the verge of bottoming out with a rebound expected to start toward the end of this year.
"Subprime loans and other risky mortgage products have virtually disappeared from the marketplace, and over the past five months, this has been reflected in soft but fairly stable home sales," he said.
He said he expected demand to be bolstered in coming months by congressional action on the economic stimulus bill to raise the caps on the size of loans that can be backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.
But other economists were not as optimistic, noting that there is a huge overhang of unsold homes, which rose in January to a 10.3 months supply, meaning it would take that long to exhaust existing inventories. That is about double what the inventory level had been during the housing boom.
Analysts said this overabundance of unsold homes would continue to depress sales and prices for some time to come.
"Expect sales and prices to keep falling," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics. "There is no end in sight for the housing disaster."
The slump in housing that began in 2006 followed a boom period in which sales and prices had soared to record levels. Many economists believe that the sharp turnaround has severely depressed economic growth and boosted the odds that the country could fall into a full-blown
Was watching the morning news and saw that realtors are now making a special deal that they are experts in short-sales or foreclosures.
ReplyDeleteIn fact in Dallas they shoed how realtors operate bus tours on bank foreclosed homes which often sell for 100,000 t0 200,000 below property being sold by sellers.
And, people don't think there is a housing problem in America.....
wake-up
Fannie Mae posts a $3.6 billion loss......
ReplyDeleteHousing slump hurts largest provider of loan financing.....
NEW YORK - Fannie Mae, the largest provider of financing for U.S. home loans, on Wednesday reported a $3.6 billion quarterly loss as the housing slump deepened.
The government-chartered company posted a $3.80 per share net loss for the fourth quarter. That compares with a profit of $604 million in the year-earlier period and a $1.52 billion loss in the third quarter.
Analysts expected the company would post a fourth-quarter loss of $1.39 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
A sharper-than-expected drop in home prices that first sparked a crisis in subprime lending has since tainted the entire U.S. housing market, hurting Fannie Mae and rival Freddie Mac. Rising delinquencies and foreclosures have led the companies to write down values of mortgage securities they own and increase reserves to cover their guarantees of payment on bonds held by investors.
Fannie Mae shares have fallen 33 percent this year through the market close on Tuesday, compared with a 3.8 percent drop in the KBW Mortgage Finance index over the same period.
White House to veto foreclosure bill........
ReplyDelete$4 billion housing bill is too expensive for the administration and would 'slow the recovery of the housing sector.'
WASHINGTON DC - The White House promised on Tuesday to veto a bill seeking to follow up the recent economic stimulus package with several proposals to shore up the struggling housing market and reduce foreclosures.
Senate Democrats had hoped to begin debate on the housing bill on Tuesday but action has been put off until later in the week, if not later, as Republicans kept the subject on Iraq.
The Democratic housing bill would change bankruptcy laws to allow judges to cut interest rates and reduce what's owed on troubled borrowers' mortgages, provide $4 billion to communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed homes, and improve disclosure of subprime mortgage loans in hopes that borrowers won't be surprised by big payment increases.
But the White House said the $4 billion for purchases of foreclosed homes is too expensive and "would constitute a bailout for lenders and speculators, while doing little to help struggling homeowners."
The provision rewriting the bankruptcy code, the White House said, would allow borrowers to effectively rewrite their mortgage contracts, leading lenders to tighten their standards and raise interest rates.
The White House said both provisions would in fact slow the recovery of the housing sector.
The Democratic measure also contains provisions stripped from the Senate's version of the stimulus bill to boost mortgage revenue bonds and add flexibility to help homeowners refinance subprime loans and to allow homebuilders and other money-losing businesses to reclaim taxes previously paid.
The bankruptcy measure, a similar version of which has cleared a House committee, is fiercely opposed by lenders and many Republicans.
The Mortgage Bankers Association, which is lobbying against the measure, says it would hurt borrowers by requiring "higher interest rates and larger down payments to offset the risk" of bankruptcy court intervention on behalf of some homeowners.
In response to the criticism, Democrats announced they would tighten the bankruptcy provision so that it would only apply to subprime borrowers who can prove that they can't afford the current mortgage and permit bankruptcy judges to reduce interest rates to the prime interest rate plus a premium for lender risk
WASHINGTON DC - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday that many proposals being put forward to deal with the housing slump would do more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteWhile he still believes that the housing problem remains the biggest downside risk to the economy, Paulson said the issue needed to be put in perspective. He said 93 percent of all mortgages are being paid on time and that less than 2 percent are in foreclosure.
"So while some in Washington are proposing big interventions, most of the proposals I've seen would do more harm than good," the secretary said in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday night before the Economic Club of Chicago.
"I'm not interested in bailing out investors, lenders and speculators," he said. "I'm focused on solutions targeted at struggling homeowners who want to keep their homes."
Paulson's comments represented the strongest administration objection lodged so far to a variety of proposals being pushed by Democrats in Congress to do more to help. Paulson said that dealing with the mortgage problems needs to be a shared responsibility.
"If borrowers aren't willing to ask for help or respond to efforts to reach them," he said, "there is only so much that others can or should do on their behalf."
Both Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., are leading congressional efforts to bolster the government's response to unfolding mortgage crisis which by some estimates could result in 2 million foreclosures this year alone.
Among the items being considered are proposals to have the government buy $15 billion in troubled mortgages, change bankruptcy laws to allow judges to modify home mortgage loans to more favorable terms and provide assistance to state and local governments to help buy foreclosed properties.
At the White House, President Bush told reporters Thursday that he was concerned that some of the proposals would drive up the cost of mortgages which would penalize prospective home buyers while doing more to "bail out lenders and speculators than to help American families keep their homes."
In his comments, Paulson said that homeowners who could afford to make their monthly mortgage payments should honor their obligations even if their loans were currently "underwater," meaning the mortgage at the moment is higher than the value of the home because the steep housing slump has pushed home prices down.
Paulson said the administration was focused on a two-pronged strategy that included boosting the economy with the $168 billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this month and encouraging the mortgage industry to help homeowners avoid losing their homes through mortgage defaults.
Democrats contend that the voluntary market-based program is not helping enough people and is also not doing enough to stabilize credit markets, which were hit last August with a severe credit squeeze related to mounting losses on subprime mortgages, loans made to people with weak credit histories.
Paulson said that the administration is closely monitoring industry efforts to freeze subprime mortgages that are scheduled to reset to higher rates and to move struggling borrowers into more affordable loans. He noted that the Securities and Exchange Commission in January had approved a new protocol to allow mortgage service companies to expedite the process for subprime borrowers who qualify.
He said he would be examing the results of that effort closely to see if the industry is doing its part to help as many people as possible.
"It's important to see that everyone who signed up for this protocol is following through on their commitment to implement it," Paulson said. "I won't look kindly on free riders."
Losing Your Home to Foreclosure and Can't Pay Them Bills...?
ReplyDeleteI am sitting back in my "shack" and come this summer will be buying one of those forclosed homes......for cash, LMAO, yep no mortgage. Whose house will I buy......will it be yours?.....keep er in good shape for me.