Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mick Mørmøny who wrote (41556)	9/18/2005 3:17:20 AM
From: Tradelite	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 306849

LOL! That NYT story could form the starting point for an entire book about buying and selling real estate, if anyone should choose to write yet another one on the subject. Many people who read that newspaper story will think all the facts and concepts in it are "new". They don't know these arguments, positions, thoughts, alleged facts, and ideas have been floating around for many years. Starting point for anyone wanting to really understand the subject: a good examination of the claim that Realtors seek to "protect commissions". Commissions are all over the map for different types of property, for different types of clients with different needs, for different real estate brokerage companies, and for different parts of the country. The levels of service and price to be paid for that service vary in many different ways, among different companies, and in different parts of the country. The minute some entity from on-high (such as NAR, or the Justice Department, or the Federal Trade Commission, or a state government) declares that no real estate customer or client can find a different level of confidentiality, a different level of fiduciary responsibility, a different quality of service, a different price for different level of service....then THAT would, indeed, be an antit-trust and anti-competitive type of move. And that is exactly what the DOJ appears to want to do by force. Any buyer or seller can purchase or take advantage of any type or level of real estate service he chooses. Plenty are being offered out there to choose from. He probably will always get exactly what he pays for or is capable of achieving on his own by luck or by skill--good, bad, indifferent, disastrous in some cases, or spectacular success. One important point to remember: when a low-cost broker offers to provide an MLS listing on the internet and a yard sign for an upfront fee with little or no support offered after that for completing the transaction, the seller pays that upfront fee whether the house sells or does not sell. With more advanced types of services, the fee is not owed to anyone if the house does not proceed to settlement, cash does not get deposited into the seller's account, and his loan does not get paid off to the lender. The seller might also have to deal with the buyer's designated agent throughout the entire transaction, who (unlike the seller's agent) hasn't agreed to work for nothing. By far the most amusing sentence in that NYT story: <<Almost every community has a discount broker who will charge $300 to $800 just to type the information about your house into the local M.L.S. (Some will also take pictures of the house to run with the listing.)>> Where has that reporter been all these years? Most large real estate markets have a boatload of these so-called discount brokers, and the term "discount" has no meaning in real estate anyway, because commission rates differ among brokers, among services offered, and among types of property being offered for sale. If commission rates were all the same and all companies colluded to charge the same rate, the Justice Department would indeed have an anti-trust case to prosecute. The DOJ lawyers today are too young to remember that this issue got solved a long time ago. Seriously, we live in interesting times. Will be interesting to see what crap ensues from this federal lawsuit being prosecuted with YOUR (and my) tax dollars. God forbid we spend any more money on Iraq or Katrina--let's go solve a problem that isn't. Real estate is interesting to just about everyone, it's a popular conversation-starter, and that's why it's always fun to be in that business and always fun to turn the subject into a political football. (My opinion only.) It would also be worthwhile to the DOJ lawyers if they recognized that some of the pesky details about buying and selling homes (which complicate transactions and do require some time, thought, expertise and knowledge to resolve) were dreamed up by their government colleagues at an earlier time. Any time the government wants to unburden a real estate transaction and render a seller harmless for such issues as fair housing, radon, lead paint, property-defect disclosure....the simple act of buying and selling real estate could get a lot cheaper and more affordable and faster for all concerned. (This, of course, will not happen.)

To: Mick Mørmøny who wrote (41556)	9/18/2005 1:36:17 PM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

Hot Sierra Nevada real estate market begins to cool down ASSOCIATED PRESS September 18, 2005 TRUCKEE – After several years of rapid price appreciation, this Sierra Nevada town's housing market appears to be cooling down, real estate agents said. "Just reduced" and "new price" banners are beginning to pop up outside houses for sale in Truckee. Just two months ago, it was difficult to find one listing that had dropped in price. "Things are definitely changing with our market," said Carol Fromson, a Realtor with Prudential California. "It is not the feeding frenzy it was." Most reductions in asking prices have been modest so far. And it's still difficult to find a Truckee home for less than $500,000. But in a town that has seen housing prices rise by 25 to 30 percent annually in recent years, the cooling in values is welcome news to buyers. "I don't think the bubble is bursting, but it is leveling off right now," Fromson told the Sierra Sun newspaper. Truckee's housing market reflects a statewide trend. Both the median sale price and sales volume decreased slightly from June to July, according to the latest figures available from the California Association of Realtors. And the time a property stayed on the market was longer than a year ago. With a combination of new development and locals looking to cash in on the hot market, buyers have a lot more to choose from in the area, said Sandy Casey, owner and broker at Tahoe Resort Properties. Sellers are "getting realistic" about prices, and not basing their property's value on the asking price of a nearby house that might not be selling, she said. "I think maybe there is a burst of the bubble, not exactly in prices but in confidence," Casey said. "We've seen some pretty big price reductions." Don Schaller, a broker with Dickson Realty, said properties are staying on the market longer because of the quick escalation in real estate values over the last few years. The increased prices have reduced the number of people who can qualify for home loans, Schaller said. "There are a lot of people that can buy a house for $350,000, but those houses are almost nonexistent," he said. In his 20 years in the business, Schaller said, he has never seen housing prices rise as sharply as they have in the last few years. That leaves the market "more exposed," he said. "People say all good things must come to an end, but the question is when." signonsandiego.com