Please join us as we have a conversation about the Seattle bubble and the Naked Loon starting at 4pm PST!
All it takes to get involved is a telephone OR an internet connection: You can call in to listen to the show via any phone… You can log into TalkShoe to stream the show to your computer and/or take part in the chat. All the details (and there really aren’t many) can be found on Rain City Radio’s Talkshoe page.
UPDATE!
What a great conversation! Thanks again Tim for taking part in Rain City Radio. And if you missed the live call, then you can listen to Tim tell us all about how/why he started the Seattle Bubble, some of the things he has learned, what inspired him to start the Naked Loon and much more! Just click on the play button on the widget to the right!
Also, I am excited to announce that next week, we’re going to have a conversation with Justin of the Capitol HIll Blog! (same time/same place 4pm on Tuesday, July 8). I really enjoyed our conversation last week with Tracy from the West Seattle blog and I’m hoping to learn a similar amount about Capitol Hill next week! 🙂
That was very interesting to find out why and how Tim began Seattle Bubble.
Thanks Tim, Jillayne and Dustin!
Didn’t get a chance to listen, but had a few good laughs at the Naked Loon!
It amazes me to see how receptive the RainCity bloggers seem to be to the bubble-heads over on Tim’s site. I would have thought that most real-estate professionals (realtors, mortgage brokers, appraisers, etc) would have thought we were all crazies wearing tin-foil hats.
I do wonder, however, how wide-spread this acceptance of the “bubble” crowd is to the broader real-estate professional community. I have noticed a few derogatory comments from realtors on some sites, calling out bubble-bloggers as nutters, and even insinuating that they are partially to blame for the real-estate slow-down.
Maybe this is just a small minority of the professional real-estate crowd…
Of course, there are some fellow bubble-heads who can’t maintain a civil conversation either, so maybe it all works out in the end.
The most interesting thing I heard Tim say was that while home sellers’ interests are promoted and defended by big institutions like realtor and mortgage associations, home buyers’ interests have no organized support whatsoever.
Did I hear that right? Nobody commented on it.
denismurf,
I had to leave the conversation about halfway through. I would agree with that statement, and it goes way back to when the REALTOR Pledge obligated all REALTORS to uphold the value of property . The pledge was changed (not so very long ago and during my 18 years in the biz), but there’s still a bent toward wanting to uphold the value of real estate generally.
The was a group formed to support buyer’s rights, but it got a little mixed up with following the money. Somewhat because their numbers where just not strong enough to make a difference, so they started focusing on making money. Many could not survive as buyer’s agents without taking listings, and their numbers have diminished.
The Group is called NAEBA – National Association for Exclusive Buyer’s Agents. You may see it kicking up again with some steam, but during a seller’s market their charge to uphold buyers rights and respresentation did more harm than good for their clients at times. Especially the times when the most vocal buyer advocates were shunned by listing agents, and that buyer was passed over for a more passive one. That was part of the DOJ suing NAR issue. Some Brokers tried to remove EBAs from the right to have an IDX site that showed property for sale.
I am amazed and apalled at the number of agents who use “Buyer Agent” as a lip service only or mostly Title. When push comes to shove, I would say 98% of agents still think the buyer is getting a “free ride” and should act as such. Most don’t want to agree that the buyer is paying for his representation as part of the sale price. I would venture to say that less than 1% of agents in the Country think the buyer pays for his representation as part of the sale price, and treats their clients accordingly.
I thought it was a great interview. Tim is clearly a class act and I hope you have him on in the future.
I enjoyed the interview too. I especially liked the discussion about how both Tim and Dustin want to make their respective sites more of a resource for consumers. To me, it’s amazing how thin the available resources are for people to share information about working with Real Estate professionals. Increasingly, it’s easy to get reviews and feedback about all kinds of services (travel, restaurants, auto repair shops, lawyers), but not for real estate profs.
I’d love to see some type of referral and rating system for agents, title/escrow companies, and lenders. This would require professionals to give up some control about their messaging, but I think there are some real opportunities as well. Unfortunately, early efforts at this (Trulia/Zillow) have not turned out particularly well.
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