Those crazy real estate professionals

[Lake Hills Renter]

Depending on when you bought your house, you would have even better of sticking your money under your mattress.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[kfhoz]

I agree with Alan's point. My house is down about 20% from peak although headed lower. But my 401k was down 47% last I checked. Of course, my husband's bank CDs are doing just fine.

[davidlosh@davidlosh.com]

The biggest difference between the stock market and a house is that stocks can go away. Companies can go away. We are seeing governments around the world propping up companies that should just pass away. General Motors is a great example. Even those CDs can disappear. Banks are going out of business all the time now and the FDIC, if I believe what I have read, is way over extended.

A house has little value, it's the land that is the Real Estate. If it's all funny money anyway you may as well throw it at a tangible asset, like a house.

[Charles Dean]

Real estate, like any other investment should be thought of as both a place to live and a long term investment. It has no cash value until you actually want to sell it. I bought my house 10 years ago for $171k. At the peak I refinanced and had it appraised at $346k. I would say it's probably worth around $300k right now. So I'm still up about $130k on it.

Obviously there is alot of wisdom and thought into when you make any investment no matter what it is. You should be thinking about what the value is going to be 5, 10, 15 years from now. Not what it's going to be next week.

[perfectfire]

You most definitely should think about what your house value will be in the short term. What if its value drops 10% in a year putting you underwater and then you get laid off? Insisting that it will be worth more in 15 years doesn't really help in that situation (unless you're an investment banker pleading to the U.S. government).

[biliruben]

Yeah, that's the first time I posted over there in quite a while, and almost immediately regretted it. Lar is the one who bugs me the most. As far as I can tell he's stupid, mean-spirited and smug. At least Mack and Kary have a brain, and every 100 posts or so they say something useful.

It sounds like Lar drove his mortgage company into the ground to boot.

[PublicEnemy#1]

Whatever happened to Ardell's home sale? It still shows pending on Zillow and it's been that way since August or September at least. Did she take a contingency offer on it?

At least she recognized the way the wind was blowing and began to address the declining market. I wonder if she got out in time?

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Charles Dean]

[jillayne]

"But let's get real. A lot of what gets posted here [on SREP] is garbage - the vast majority from people who post anonymously and simply do not know what they're talking about."

Sigh. Why do I even try. I've learned a ton from The Tim, synthetik, Eleua, sniglet, Alan, RCC, Lake Hills Renter, deejayoh and other regular SB writers.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/real ... 158042.asp

comment number 235974

[Lake Hills Renter]

Not surprising coming from Mack. I suspect he and several others over there just don't get that it's the ideas and words that matter, not who you claim to be. I don't give a rat's ass that he calls himself a professional. I'll take Eleua's comments (as an example) over his any day of the week because Eleua has earned my resect with his ideas and comments, not because of what label he gives himself. The fact I don't know his real name is irrelevent. His words stand on their own merit. And who's ideas a person dismisses, and why, is a very valuable piece of that respect (or lack thereof). Mack has repeatedly failed that litmus miserably. I really tried to give Mack the benefit of the doubt, but I can only try so much before I give up. Larry lost me on the crying baby image.

[Ouch!]

Jillayne - you are a class act. You show integrity and intelligence. However, based on Mack's comments on the P-I blog, he appears to be lacking in both these areas. You were wise to caution him against his attacks, but I don't think he's able to understand. Pearls before swine.

But at least you tried. I'm sure Mack doesn't realize how much his own posts demean the real estate profession. And how many current and future homeowners/buyers will never use his services, based on his posted opinions.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

Mack is confused in at least two ways. First, he seems to think ire is being directed at all realtors, which is patently false. People are angry with the NAR, major banks, Madoff, Lehman/BS/AIG, Greenspan/Bernake, W, loan officers, housing appraisers, the state government (for blowing a temporary tax boon), and the list goes on and on.

Notice how my list included loan officers? Well, just because a mind boggling number of brokers turned out to be unethical doesn't mean I lack any respect for S-Crow (for instance). Quite the contrary, the fact that he has been honest throughout makes me trust him even more. S-Crow is just the kind of expert I would use were I buying a house today. His honesty might have cost him some the last few years, but it will payoff in the long run as his dishonest competitors are forced from the market.

Second, when people say they are pissed at Realtors(R, TM?, C??) they have every right to be. The NAR as an organization has lied to America blatantly, publicly, and dangerously for most of this decade. Their lies have contributed to one of the most damaging speculative bubbles in US history. Meanwhile, the organization operates as a cartel with fixed (and ridiculously high) commissions, while doing what it can to prevent competition from discount brokers. That discounters are moving in despite the cartel proves just how over-priced their services as a group are. Further, the overwhelming majority of their "expert knowledge" is little but warmed over cliches and vague common knowledge sprinkled with useful tidbits that would fit easily on a three page FAQ (just to remind people of a few important details they shouldn't forget).

Actually, Tim; maybe this site should add just such an FAQ. It would be a single home-buying resource where you put bullet items people should do when buying. Like, get financed before looking or for first time buyers investigate government assistance. Then we could completely replace Mack's expert knowledge with a single mostly static page.

[Lake Hills Renter]

I don't hate real estate agents at all, I just see them for what they are -- salesmen. I get more irritated with the media treating them like objective experts than with the agents themselves. They just do what salesmen always do -- always give the positive spin and sell the product. There are some agents, however, who have proven themselves to not be worth my money and I will refuse to use them when I buy, mostly due to their online behavior and attitude.