MAR's Propaganda Blitz

In a desperate attempt to drum up business, the Marin Association of Realtors is engaged in a first-ever-of-its-kind propaganda blitz. Some realtors are even undergoing "special training" for the propaganda campaign. Special propaganda training...hmmm.

Some choice quotes:

In a presentation to the San Rafael City Council - the first of its kind before a municipal body in Marin - the association said newspaper headlines announcing Marin's recent real estate highs and lows are accurate, but not a true measure of the market's rock-solid history in Marin as a steady climber.

"When it comes to real estate prices in Marin ... the true guide should be the long-term history," said Edward Segal, chief executive of the Marin Association of Realtors.

Association officials, concerned about the media's recent portrayal of the market as weak based on "snapshot" data, are making the rounds to Rotary clubs, chambers of commerce, community groups and others across Marin hoping to spread the word that business is good.

About a dozen association officers have undergone training as part of the "proactive" public education campaign, Segal said.

"Public education campaign"? More like public brain-washing.

'Spreading the word"...halleluiah!

One has to wonder why this is necessary now. Are they scared? And what's the deal with the whole "long term" emphasis? Of course long term things look good. No one has ever claimed otherwise, at least not on this blog nor anywhere else that I can recall. It's the short to medium term where things look less rosy. Considering the typical house owner only stays in the house 5-7 years on average, people should be concerned about the short- to mid-term. Shame on the MAR to suggest otherwise.

And then:

"We're much better off than the media would have you believe," she said.

Ah. So it is the media's fault. This being said in the IJ, the MAR's poodle. I don't recall the MAR or RE agents/realtors anywhere admonishing the media when the media was pumping up real estate and down-playing the risks. So you are only bad if you go against the real estate industry's bottom line. Got it.

Well, I sure hope our business leaders are savvy enough to recognize when vested interests are only looking after their financial best interests and no one else's.

"As the name implies, it's data and it's quick," Segal said of the La Jolla-based real estate information service.

Cute. How professional. I'll have more to say about DataQuick's "quickie" data in a later post.

Perhaps these, dug up from the 'ol archives, will help clarify things (and maybe I'll get around to updating them too):

Do you want to do your part to help put these middlemen (or is that "middlepersons"?) out of business and help to lower prices? Check out BuySide Realty. According to the review over at Mish's place (scroll down to the post entitled "The Changing Business of Real Estate (Part 1)"):

In the typical relationship at present, a person finds a home with or without the help of a Realtor, makes an offer, and commissions on the sale are split between the buyer's agent and seller's agent.

Those commissions are usually in the 5-6% range. Historically the split has been 50-50 between the buyer's agent and seller's agent but given the current slowdown the buyer's agent now gets as much as 4% of 6% commission.

The question is "for what?"

BuySide Realty operates on the principle that people who find the home they want to buy should get paid for their effort. So BuySide actually shares with the buyer 75% of the commission it receives. This commission sharing can be substantial. On a $500,000 home with a 6% commission spit equally, BuySide Realty would return $11,250 to the buyer of the house. If the commission was split 4% to the buyer's agent (not uncommon in this market) BuySide Realty would return $15,000 to the new home buyer. The largest rebate so far was $40,000.

The current perception that BuySide is attempting to change, is that one needs substantial help from a Realtor to buy a house. Mr. Fox offered the following comment about those perceptions: "The NAR has done an excellent job of convincing the consumer they are too stupid to buy a house on their own accord even when their own facts show otherwise".

So go out there, find that Marin foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, tax lien, and use these guys to get the house. You are not only putting an RE agent out of work, but helping to bring prices down.

And no, for you skeptics out there, I am not in any way, shape, or form affiliated with BuySide.