Some realtors still hating on Seattle Bubble
I thought that the days of real estate agents posting angry, demeaning, and/or generally combative things about me were behind us. Then I saw this post from Marlow Harris, REALTOR®©™
Sometimes I just don't get people.
I don't really even know what that's supposed to mean, "doesn't believe in owning real estate." And when I tried to point out that in no way do I either espouse or promote the #2 viewpoint, she responded:Marlow Harris wrote:Tim and his fellow minions have killed several years now in writing Seattle Bubble, a blog devoted to documenting the rise and fall of real estate in Seattle and around the country. The blog is equal parts post and comment and the many threads boil down to
1. Real estate is overpriced
and
2. Only an idiot would buy or own a house.
So, it's a curious and puzzling partnership. Why would a real estate business hire a writer/representative who doesn't believe in owning real estate?
I just want to say... what the heck? How can someone read the posts on Seattle Bubble and come to that conclusion? And how is not being willing to take out a dangerous loan (the only way I could have personally afforded a home in the insane housing market of 2005) equivalent to saying that only idiots would buy or own a house?Marlow Harris wrote:Oh, please. The reason you started that blog was to lament your inability to afford a home without, as you put it, taking out a "toxic mortgage". Seattle Bubble's entire raison d'être is to discourage, frighten and bully people.
Sometimes I just don't get people.
Comments
And lets see, redfin cuts 20% of their workforce and changes their billing model to make it higher fixed, less variable - and they are in a death spiral. Meanwhile, the traditional real estate industry is losing agents at a clip of 17% a year and all is fine and dandy!
As for bullying, I'm not sure what that's about. Oh, btw Tim, here's my lunch money and your completed homework.
I think that the discount houses are probably hurting just as bad as all of the other real estate brokerages out there. Sutton folded, who has been around forever. I've also heard that Help U Sell is in alot of trouble as well.
In retail, you either offer better service or better price. Something has to give one way or the other. Discount places have to do it in volume, or their business model can't survive. If you're doing more work then the other guy for less money, eventually you'll get burnout. It's inevitable.
OWN IT!
As opposed to Realtors(R), right?
Might I also add shortsighted, and greedy to the list of Big Real Estate's sins?
Compared to that, I think the real message behind this blog is A) yes you can live within your means,
Marlow is just hurting financially, and needs a whipping boy. I don't think you can take the bitter sentiments of some people too seriously.
Actually, the quote was about banks instead of financial markets (not that that's any better right now). And to give Ardell credit, she seems to have come around since then.
She has, but my remark was regarding shortsightedness. It's easy to come around once you've noticed that loans are unavailable and your income is suffering because of it. It's only marginally more difficult realize the one might affect the other in advance. Every facet of the real estate bubble has been about shortsightedness and greed.
Looking back, who in their right might could argue that our GDP should be focused on building homes? It's not like this is Myanmar. It's not like we were all living in grass huts. We already had about enough homes. Likewise, it didn't take a whole lot of smarts to know that prices couldn't really go up 3%-6% higher than inflation or population growth infinitely, and yet many "experts" predicted that after 10%-15% annual increases through the end of this decade, Seattle would settle into 6%+ increases for the foreseeable future.
Tell Marlow Harris to stop drinking all that Haterade! Her argument is ridiculous.
From Marlowe's webpage...."I pride myself on offering creative real estate solutions, no matter what the situation or circumstance. "
How ironic. Wasn't it "creative real estate solutions" that got us into this whole mess in the first place? :twisted:
It seems to me that many out of work Realtors (R) will require creative real estate solutions in the near future.
"I've got this refrigerator box, for only a couple dollars you can buy it from me and drag it into the wooded section of the park."
Rival bloggers Ellis and Harris exemplify real estate's angst
She is both linguistically and mathematically in error. Let's replace this sentence with any other asset.
Irregardless <sic> of the ups and downs, I still believe it (investing in buggy whips, canned food, sail boats) is a way for the average person to build wealth in the long run over a long period of time.
So, we can completely disregard surges or declines in supply/demand as long as we are buy and hold investors?
I don't think anyone on this site is seriously on the fence and influenced by Seattle Bubble. I've been a housing market pessimist since 2003, despite all the harassment from my mother to invest in real estate because it was a sure thing (which really has to be way, way up there as a contrarian indicator). To the RE agents, however, everyone must want to own a home, so anyone who is skeptical on the idea of home ownership should be locked up in a mental institute because they are clearly unbalanced. So, they're hostile to having a website full of the people who otherwise should be in mental asylums talking to each other.
However, really, a better raison d'etre is to comfort ourselves that we were right while the rest of the world lost their mind thinking housing could appreciate 20% y-o-y without a day of reckoning.
It'd be nice to see this website turn positive when the markets finally turn positive so that it becomes a positive force in hooking people up with cheap real estate and making sales happen -- but right now the numbers just aren't there.
I thought she might rip your throat out and drink your blood
Remember, you have to hold it upside down and shake it to reboot
Real estate forecasting 2009
Wondering if the market has reached bottom yet? Are you a buyer, seller or a holder? Whether your interest lies in commercial or residential, you may be interested in this real estate panel discussion sponsored by the Institute of Real Estate Management that is going on this week at a Qwest Field meeting room this Friday, Dec. 5th. They've changed from local experts giving lectures to an open panel discussion which promises to be an exciting and lively discussion about where we are headed in local real estate in 2009.
Keynote Speaker: David Legeay, SR VP, Key Bank
Guest Panelists:
Kemper Freeman, Kemper Development
Matthew Gardner, Gardner/Johnson LLC
Bart Brynestad, Panattoni Development
Thomas Parsons, Opus Northwest
J. Lennox Scott, John L. Scott Real Estate
Guest Moderator: James DeLisle, Univ of WA
Special Guest: Reggie Mullins, CPM. 2008 IREM National President.
addendum
Also, as I look more closely at the event, it's being hosted by the Institute of Real Estate Management, a group that focuses on "real estate management" and "income-producing properties." Looking at the keynote speaker and other list of speakers, it seems like the focus of the discussion will be pretty different from the usual topics we cover on Seattle Bubble.
A coworker today told me she made 1/6 as much this year as she did in 2006 as an agent. She was a high performer in her former office. She took this current job to make ends meet.
Ouch. I might be a bit surly too.