Best Regards,

Chuck

If I keep the cup can it be refilled tomorrow?

Thank you Ray Pepper of 500 Realty for another fine bit of information.

You know this guy is saying that his Real Estate agent is having trouble presenting a low offer. The post is about discounts in list price which translates into price reductions. Why can’t agents just do deals and stop harping?

We were promised transparency and that was going to level the playing field. Nothing has changed in that regard.

Now in loans everything changed.

I know the lawyer who brought the lawsuit against Mortgage Companies who were charging frivolous fees. It is fascinating how loans work. A Real Estate commission of 3% pales in comparison to a mortgage with thirty years of compounded interest. Lenders had more interest in driving up Real Estate prices, much more than Real Estate agents.

Now we are back to the point about the post. Real Estate value never changes. Real Estate is worth what it will rent for. If the rent covers the mortgage payment then it’s a good deal, if it’s a little more that’s OK, but when a mortgage payment is twice what a property will rent for that’s way over priced.

Zillow was sued for encouraging predatory lending, and misrepresenting property values. Now we have Zillow Mortgage direct from the source. redfin will be the same. The money will come from the Title, Loans, and escrow.

Just like ETrade we are in a time when the consumer will hand over dollars, millions and millions of dollars for an online experience.

Real Estate prices have suffered, mortgages are in default, the credit market that has access to billions of consumers is tanking, and we have a global economic melt down. By all means let’s not offer what a property is worth. Let’s wait for the seller to tell you what they want. Let’s let the banks with the bad loans determine the market place.

The comment about redfin was in passing, it was brought up by the post, I don’t know why.

What I do know is that a Slurpee sounds great. I’ve never had on, but let’s try something new.

So any one with a Real Estate license can go to Skyline, pay a desk fee, and be a Real Estate agent. They only need to do a few deals a year to make good money. Any Brokerage can offer discounted commission, that’s why they say it’s negotiable. A split office, in theory, offers an agent more. I’m in a split office and there is mandatory in office training. There are meetings, and agent education. I personally support that.

Internet Brokerage is new. It’s where the industry was headed. All companies worked on getting listings out to the buying public.

What was an issue, and what redfin asked for and got, was the rebate Brokerage. It had been illegal for Brokerages to offer inducements, or “kick backs” to consumers. Now Brokerages can offer you a kick back for anything to get you to use their services. Smaller companies may not have enough market share to offer large inducements. That’s why I harp on big corporate Brokerages. Coldwell banker wanted the rebate when they where owned by Sears. Sears could offer a wide variety of rebates to do business with Coldwell Banker, including patio furniture.

Now just look what a passing comment about redfin will do. Some how the consumer thinks redfin is different from a regular Brokerage. Some how looking at a list of properties for sale will increase a consumers ability to purchase a home. Again some how consumers reading blogs will increase the knowledge they have about the home buying process.

Blogging for business is a tool used by Brokerages. I would call it a tool that agents use but the truth is you can generate more sales leads by getting on the phone and calling expired listings. There are thousands of expired listings. That is a topic maybe for another time.

The reality of building a Real Estate is that it takes a certain set of skills and knowledge. How many times will you purchase a property? How many transactions will you negotiate? Is it fun to make a commitment to a half of a million dollars in debt because you can do it yourself?

If you spend the time with the internet you can see it has entertainment value. Real Estate agents are busy in the market place. Real Estate is a twenty four hour a day seven day a week business. If your Real Estate agent tells you anything else you need a new one. Real Estate agents are some of the hardest working people in America. The threshold to become an agent is low because it is a set of skills only developed by experience. You can have an aptitude for the business, but it takes practice to be good at it.

There are no short cuts, there’s no magic, you either know or you don’t know if this is a good deal for you today.

Every Brokerage wants you to do it yourself so they can get rid of all the dead wood they have hanging around in the office. Real Estate is a numbers game. The more agents, the more money. With an online Brokerage all you need is a technical support staff.

Really, should I go on? I can.

Like I said all Brokerages want redfin to work. The propaganda that there is some big conspiracy against redfin is false. It’s a marketing technique. Marketing using going to Congress to push for kick back Brokerage bothered me. Then when they turned around with this conspiracy theory and started attacking Real Estate agents it became a mission in my life to expose them.

This I need explained better maybe my brain got overheated today-I think I understand what you are saying but maybe not…please give me more insight.