A bogus business
CNN has a report on the housing market titled "Housing: The bidding wars are back!",
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/04/real_estate/bidding-wars/index.html?iid=HP_LN
A series of numbers from broker website and agencies seems convincing home buyers/sells that the market is back. So far so good until a buyer story stuck the rosy picture:
"It was very frustrating," said Jackie Kaufman. "We felt we were always on the outside of the loop and that people who won the homes had the inside track."
By the fourth try, the couple successfully bid through a listing agent, who they believe pushed their bid harder in order to earn a double commission since she was representing both the buyer and seller in the deal. And they managed to get the place for $30,000 less than the asking price.
The couple had bid up offers above the asking prices in their first three attempts. All of them failed but the fourth try was $30K less than the asking price. The rosy picture suddenly became skewed. Whose gain whose loss in this deal? The agent might have told the owner that there was no offer and needed to reduce price. Or he might have convinced the owner a quick lower priced sale was needed before rate increase. Whatever untold reasons drove the sale, the house is gone. So can we say owner's loss, buyer's gain? Who would know what will happen when the new buyer becomes seller in the future. Both head and tail are agent's gain.
This story tells who the real rainmaker is. Next time, if you're buying or selling a house, do due diligence on your own. It probably is a good idea to list as an FSBO (for sale by owner) for a while. What you heard may not be true especially when truth and lie are mixed. This is probably the biggest middleman to be removed by technology, particularly the bad ones. Online broker has gained some clout but agency rating seems not catching up accordingly.
Extending from there, the same message applied to what TV, newspaper, online news tell us: the economy is extremely good and strong. True but may not that strong as perceived by the media. Look around to see if there are spending cuts, hire freezing, furlough etc then make next move. There are surprise spots that caution us.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/04/real_estate/bidding-wars/index.html?iid=HP_LN
A series of numbers from broker website and agencies seems convincing home buyers/sells that the market is back. So far so good until a buyer story stuck the rosy picture:
"It was very frustrating," said Jackie Kaufman. "We felt we were always on the outside of the loop and that people who won the homes had the inside track."
By the fourth try, the couple successfully bid through a listing agent, who they believe pushed their bid harder in order to earn a double commission since she was representing both the buyer and seller in the deal. And they managed to get the place for $30,000 less than the asking price.
The couple had bid up offers above the asking prices in their first three attempts. All of them failed but the fourth try was $30K less than the asking price. The rosy picture suddenly became skewed. Whose gain whose loss in this deal? The agent might have told the owner that there was no offer and needed to reduce price. Or he might have convinced the owner a quick lower priced sale was needed before rate increase. Whatever untold reasons drove the sale, the house is gone. So can we say owner's loss, buyer's gain? Who would know what will happen when the new buyer becomes seller in the future. Both head and tail are agent's gain.
This story tells who the real rainmaker is. Next time, if you're buying or selling a house, do due diligence on your own. It probably is a good idea to list as an FSBO (for sale by owner) for a while. What you heard may not be true especially when truth and lie are mixed. This is probably the biggest middleman to be removed by technology, particularly the bad ones. Online broker has gained some clout but agency rating seems not catching up accordingly.
Extending from there, the same message applied to what TV, newspaper, online news tell us: the economy is extremely good and strong. True but may not that strong as perceived by the media. Look around to see if there are spending cuts, hire freezing, furlough etc then make next move. There are surprise spots that caution us.
posted by Intl.investment.services at
9:32 AM
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