Takeaway message:
"If you want honest advice about your home, don't listen to the people who are trying to make a living selling them."Lawrence Yun, Leslie Appleton-Young, David Lereah, and all you Marin six-percenters, take note.
Of course, the irony of all this is that people like me, who have spoken out against the biases and the inherent conflicts of interest in the real estate industry and who have tried to make the case that a real estate bust was likely, had to rely on data that came, for the most part, from the real estate industry (the "REIC") itself. This is sad for two reasons: 1) It indicates how much we need an unbiased, third-party source of real estate information; and 2) The "REIC's" own data, spun and massaged as it was by realtors and agents, still made the case for a real estate bust.
4 comments:
An unbiased, third party source of real estate information would be a great idea. If all the people that would like to have that information would be willing to pay for it then someone would provide it. In the commercial end of the business there are a number of sources of decent quality data, but they all cost a fair amount of money to use. There are people and companies that need that data and understand the cost (time and dollars) of developing it themselves and the value of having it, so they pay.
I imagine that if part of the cost of buying/selling houses included, just a guess, $100 for unbiased data, and that it was custom for buyers/sellers to pay it, then there would be a number of providers. It would have to be a cost to the principal, because if it was custom for the broker to pay it then there would be a source of built-in bias.
As the bursting of this bubble clearly shows, nowhere has there been more obvious conflicts of interest than with all the "pro's" involved with buying and selling homes. That's where the stakes are the highest, the most riches can be gotten and where the present day carpet-baggers, shylarks, charlatans, and hucksters all gravitate towards.
Had our little Leslie been born in the mid 1800's, she'd be carrying around a bag full of bottles promising instant remedies to all the world’s ills no doubt.
Yet the MSM is still full of quotes from these yo-yo's who were so clearly WRONG and continue to be.
Anyone who bought into the "buy now or be priced out forever" crap is basically f**********.
Really good source. Thanks for posting
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