Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Real Estate Agents - Dumb, Naive, or just Liars?

Before the crash came, I remember real estate agent after real estate agent saying what a great time it was to buy into a house.  If you didn't buy soon, you would soon be priced out forever.  Housing was the best investment ever (it isn't) and it would never go down because it never had.  Hurry, buy now.

The latest housing numbers are pretty grim.  New housing starts fell to their lowest levels since the started tracking the number.   Housing in my neck of the woods is down 27% year over year (they aren't down enough).   Yet I keep hearing real estate agents say that now is the best time to buy.  Their reasoning, prices have dropped so much and there is so much choice for buyers.  What does that make real estate agents?  Are they just dumb because they couldn't see the fall of housing coming when it was pretty evident to anybody who was paying attention.  Are they just naive because they don't understand how horrible the current situation is and how much worse it is going to get.  Or perhaps they are just like every other sales guy out there, willing to lie and say whatever it takes to get a sale.

I keep looking at housing prices in my city, and they just aren't all that great.  There are some houses which aren't outrageous, but none I would say is affordable, and I earn way more than the average American household.  For me, I would need to see prices drop at least another 30%-40% from here before I would even consider buying.

1 comment:

  1. The agents are probably lying... not just to potential buyers but also to themselves. In the next 2 to 3 years, most real estate agents will have to find a different job. I'd say they're just trying to hold on to a fleeting career before the looming, bigger crash. Or getting as much commission as they can before then.

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