Friday Flashback: “What more can you ask for?”

Posted on by The Tim

Here’s an excerpt from an a Q&A with the then-president of the Thurston County Realtors Association Bill Hutchinson that appeared in The Olympian in February 2008 (now available only behind their archive paywall):

Bill Hutchinson, president of the Thurston County Realtors AssociationQ: Given where the market is today compared with a couple of years ago, what would your advice be for sellers and buyers now that the market has slowed down a bit?

A: Right up front, this is a great time to buy. Interest rates are historically low; we have a great inventory of homes. As a buyer, what more can you ask for?

What more could you have asked for? Oh, I don’t know… How about way cheaper homes?

Say… people who waited four years after Bill Hutchinson’s “great time to buy” got not only homes that were around 25% cheaper but also interest rates that were two whole points lower!

Here’s how I responded to this drivel at the time.

The purpose of our Friday Flashback series is to remind people why it’s never a good idea to base your home purchase decisions on the word of someone with a vested financial interest in selling as many homes as possible for as much as possible, no matter what. If you’ve got a good example of local home salespeople or other industry shills on record making fools of themselves in the years before the bubble burst, shoot me an email.