Wow, crazy spending in our government should cause rising interest rates in the future. Government incentives, mandates, moratoriums and Fed manipulation of the housing market, which got us here in the first place, are running amok right now. The unintended consequences of all these actions are yet to be seen. The NAR is advertising NOW as a great time to buy, just like they did in 2006 and 2007.
I get buyers and sellers asking me what I think will happen, as I had this weekend. I can tell them with certainty that I expect that things will change from where we are today. Do I tell them the NAR line that it’s a great time to buy a house? No.
I don’t think it is necessarily a bad time to buy a house, and may even be a pretty good time to buy a house, depending on somebody’s particular situation. On the other hand, if the person who is thinking of buying isn’t sure they’re going to stay put, with the cash flow to pay for their home for a pretty good while, it may be a really poor time to buy a house for that person.
How about selling? I’ve sold two homes that I personally owned in the last six months. Is it a great time to sell? It was for me. And sell them I did, in about 1/5 the typical time on market in the area. Could I get more for them in the future? Maybe but I can’t tell you how far into the future that might be. I tell clients that this may, or may not, be a good time for them to sell depending on their situation.
So, the NAR advertising line irritates me. I don’t find it helpful at all. It undermines the credibility of real estate professionals to simple mind numbing “it’s time to buy” repeated over and over. That’s the kind of help I can do without. While my crystal ball on the future is no better than anyone else’s, I just want to be there help my clients and friends through actions that best serve their specific circumstance and prepare for what they believe may be coming down the pike. Is it too much to ask that the NAR not make that more challenging?
ryan hartman says:
Right on Al. Is sorta like the RE/MAX stance on national tv advertising vs. KW’s…
I think KW has it right. Trying to empower agents with the tools to self promote and demonstrate competence on their own terms would probably be more productive than spending big bucks speaking for all members (and all markets, many of which might not be so buyer friendly…)
May 27, 2009 — 5:56 pm
Sean Purcell says:
You nailed it Al. The NAR is a strong-arm union with all the negatives that implies. Who is NAR advertising helping? The firms that produce the ads…
May 27, 2009 — 9:07 pm
Al Lorenz says:
I’m more than a bit frustrated with the NAR at all levels. We just had a meeting of our local brokers on rules updates. A focus on allowing activity that is in the best interest of our customers would be refreshing. However, that looks like an unlikely outcome. I believe our local group really wishes they could go back to paper books that were updated every two weeks and never left their offices.
May 28, 2009 — 9:07 am
Michael Cook says:
If more realtors thought like this, perhaps the NAR would be helpful. Rally the troops and make a change.
For some reason, people feel like its the NAR’s job to always be positive. That doesnt help realtors, it undermines their credibility in the good times and the bad times.
May 29, 2009 — 12:53 pm
Greg Dallaire says:
The craziest thing about all of this is that the you can see the true power of media.
Tell them it’s positive and they’ll believe it’s positive. No different from all the political propoganda that was shoved down people’s throats. But wait it worked.
Glad to see that some people are actually thinking for themselves. If the whole population did that we’d have a different kind of government.
May 30, 2009 — 5:29 pm