Buying And Selling: Who Do You Trust?

You don't have to be a fan of Freakonomics (or this blog, for that matter) to know that the issue of trusting your realtor is a hot one. No serious training, the all-encompassing drive to push for sales, lack of oversight--it's a real bitches' brew, all right.

One way enterprising brokerages have been combatting this is putting their stats out there for everyone to read. HomeGain, HomeThinking, and many other sites like them flip the script--instead of searching Web-based listings for valuations, properties, and what not, you put your property up there and the sites find you an appropriate realtor.

Do these work? I, myself, have never used them, so I can't say. It seems that the drive for information is pushing people further into the welcoming arms of the Internets, but people still rely chiefly on word-of-mouth and referrals when it comes to choosing a realtor. Still, enterprising agents like Echo Farrell seem to be combatting the malaise of the post-bubble housing market by getting proactive. It's not like she has a choice--Phoenix ain't exactly swingin' these days--but the more realtors push to set themselves apart from the pack, the more they're going to be willing to work to get your sale. And in a buyer's market, that ain't nothing but a good thing.

(Ok, there's proactive, and then there's proactive, but still...)

Of course, if you were to go solely on the comic stylings of David Lereah, it'd be a miracle if you didn't ditch all your cash and buy a ton of gold bricks to live under for the next few years. Have a look at this latest bilge:

I'm getting tired of all these doomsayers. We live in houses, and our houses are not going to crash. This isn't the stock market.... Local economies are relatively healthy. There's job creation -- this isn't a scenario where bubbles burst. Can there be one or two or three or several local markets where prices actually go down? Yes. But to generalize for 30 markets or the whole real estate marketplace -- that's absurd.

Take a deep breath, and inhale that wonderful smell of bear markets and bull &^!t. :)

Posted at May 22, 2006 09:28 PM

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You don't have to be a fan of Freakonomics (or this blog, for that matter) to know that the issue of trusting your realtor is a hot one. No serious training, the all-encompassing drive to push for sales, lack of oversight--it's a real bitches' brew, all right. One way enterprising brokerages have been combatting this is putting their stats out there for everyone to read. HomeGain, HomeThinking, and many other sites like them flip the script--instead of searching Web-based listings for valuations, properties, and what not, you put your property up there and the sites find you an appropriate realtor. Do these work? I, myself, have never used them, so I can't say. It seems that the drive for information is pushing people further into the welcoming arms of the Internets, but people still rely chiefly on word-of-mouth and referrals when it comes to choosing a realtor. Still, enterprising agents like Echo Farrell seem to be combatting the malaise of the post-bubble housing market by getting proactive. It's not like she has a choice--Phoenix ain't exactly swingin' these days--but the more realtors push to set themselves apart from the pack, the more they're going to be willing to work to get your sale. And in a buyer's market, that ain't nothing but a good thing. (Ok, there's proactive, and then there's proactive, but still...) Of course, if you were to go solely on the comic stylings of David Lereah, it'd be a miracle if you didn't ditch all your cash and buy a ton of gold bricks to live under for the next few years. Have a look at this latest bilge: I'm getting tired of all these doomsayers. We live in houses, and our houses are not going to crash. This isn't the stock market.... Local economies are relatively healthy. There's job creation -- this isn't a scenario where bubbles burst. Can there be one or two or three or several local markets where prices actually go down? Yes. But to generalize for 30 markets or the whole real estate marketplace -- that's absurd. Take a deep breath, and inhale that wonderful smell of bear markets and bull &^!t. :)