Letters to the Editor: February 2008

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Local Market Truths. Accentuating the Negative. A Needed Change.

“Where the Truth about Today’s Market Really Lies”

• RISMedia’s Power Broker Network Report,
• January 2008
• www.rismedia.com,
• January 3, 2008

Media Misguides Consumers

I, too, have been alarmed at the national news media seemingly controlling and driving the market with mostly negative spins. When Jim Cramer made his infamous statements, one of my buyers took his word to heart and decided to wait “six months.” Cramer may have just hurt this buyer financially. The buyer is in San Antonio, Texas, rated one of the top six real estate markets in the country! Cramer’s remarks do not and did not apply to our market. But, because they were generalized, I lost the buyer and more importantly, the buyer lost.

It is the headline that has already killed the deal though. In another instance, the media reported that local companies were not adding any more new jobs. However, as you read the article, you find out that the reason no new jobs were being formed is because unemployment rates were so low, the companies couldn’t fill the jobs they already had open! Now, that was sloppy journalism. We will push forward and continue to educate our clients. The media is looking dumb. Now is the opportunity to show our clients the importance and value of having a local Realtor who actually knows the stats!

Sheryl Sepulveda, Accredited Luxury Home Specialist, San Antonio, Texas

Just Ignore Them

Bravo on the article.

I have to agree that the news media does go out of their way to accentuate the negative and downplay anything positive but then again, that is what they have always done. The phrase, “if it bleeds it leads,” didn’t just create itself. I have found in my time working in real estate that the media is much better at calling tops and bottoms of the market than they are at telling you what is really going on. A year or so ago when the major newspapers were screaming about the best market in decades, I knew we had peaked and were headed down. Now with the effort they are placing in reporting how bad it is, I have no doubt we have already turned the corner and are headed back up.

My suggestion is, just leave them alone; soon enough something else will grab their attention and they will be off to milk that for all it’s worth.

Tom Lakutis Realtor, Buckley, Washington

“The Importance of Appraisals in a Declining Market”

• www.rismedia.com
• January 10, 2008

Leave the Appraiser Alone

I am an appraiser and I not only find this article troubling, but I also find in it one of the main reasons for the problem in today’s housing market.

The article states: “In the past, choosing an appraiser and a mortgage lender were mutually exclusive activities, one performed by the real estate agent, the other by the mortgage broker. In today’s environment, a collaborative effort between the real estate and mortgage professionals makes sense when it comes to choosing an appraiser.”

The subtle implication is to find an appraiser to “make it appraise” to the sale value. This makes the appraiser just a “rubber stamp” of the mortgage broker and real estate agent. This not only flies in the face of the independent appraisal process, but it makes the consumer a pawn of the lending process.

I have appraised houses for less than their sale price on numerous occasions. I have gotten more “grief” from agents and brokers because of it. At that point, I simply say to the agent, “If you have comparable sales that I don’t have, then please provide me with them. I will be glad to reconsider.” They never do. I believe that in order for the process to work correctly, the real estate agent and mortgage broker should be left completely out of the process.

Douglas Quenzer, Certified Residential Appraiser, Northwest Wisconsin

Discussion Forum

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Power Teams: Grasping the Agent Team Concept

Excerpt series provides insight into recently released book
RISMEDIA, May 12, 2008-Far too many real estate agents are overworked and underpaid primarily because they try to do everything themselves. They are either unaware of the agent team approach or they do not realize the benefits that such an approach can deliver both professionally and personally. In […]