I came across this Blog written by a Realtor, it’s great reading and absolutely hilarious IMO but contains some pretty bad language which is why I found it to be so entertaining to be honest….so if Swearing offends you don’t go to the link below.  http://kingdomofmere.wordpress.com/category/work/

Nice find. This really could be used as a case study, on how RE agents chose to be clueless.

I am uninformed.  And today I learned that is ok.
We had a seminar with a real estate economist that was freaking amazing.  And the first 20 minutes were all about how the media throws things out of proportion.  It was mind boggling.  The real stats vs. the stats the newspaper tells us.  They use facts, they just do not put it in context.
For instance - the subprime market and it’s fallout.   This guy went through the numbers and I wish I had them with me right now….but only 7% of loans were subprime.  And some low number are in default (which could happen for a number of reasons that do not have to do with people not being able to pay their mortgage).  And the number that go into foreclosure is like 3% of that 7%….but most of those bail themselves out somehow.  So the “sky is falling” mentality is total bullshit!  The economy is strong.  And I am thrilled and invigorated.  And excited to still be in real estate.
And for the first time I am proud that I do not read the paper or watch the news.  I will get my info from the informed not someone who needs to sell papers or ad time.
I wish she had the name of the person, and the stats. These stats are so ridiculous, they make Ben Stein’s stats seem bearish.
I have 60K in commissions sitting on the market right now. And I have buyers - buyers who will not buy that add up to at least another 50K. And I would like to say that is all good news - but the numbers have been pretty similar all year….and I have made less this year than that last job offer I got in SF.
So today I will own my bitter.  I AM bitter.
Nope… It’s about the client, not the commission.
You know what would make me feel better? A paycheck.

"<em>For instance - the subprime market and it’s fallout.   This guy went through the numbers and I wish I had them with me right now….but only 7% of loans were subprime.  And some low number are in default (which could happen for a number of reasons that do not have to do with people not being able to pay their mortgage).  And the number that go into foreclosure is like 3% of that 7%….but most of those bail themselves out somehow.  So the “sky is falling” mentality is total bullshit!  The economy is strong.  And I am thrilled and invigorated.  And excited to still be in real estate.</em>
<em><em>And for the first time I am proud that I do not read the paper or watch the news.  I will get my info from the informed not someone who needs to sell papers or ad time."</em></em>
This is classic.  Yes, better to be ignorant  and just have a positive attitude.  I wonder if our red-headed wonder ever considered that the seminar leader may not be citing all the facts.
Just in case she is reading this: It isn’t a subprime problem or even a mortgage problem.  It is a debt and leverage problem!  Bad mortgages are just a symptom and the first symptom to show.
 

It does show where guys like Gary Watts have their place. The real estate community just needs someone to fill their heads with positive bullshit so they can deliver the bullshit with conviction to a potential buyer. It is actually helpful to be totally clueless in that circumstance because it gets you around the problem of having a conscious. If you know you are full of crap, you might feel guilty, but if you are blissfully ignorant to the fact you are full of crap, then you can say whatever you like without shame. It is a bit like politics except those guys know they are lying, and they choose to go to hell.

“light a fire under our clients”.... hahahaha, as if it were that easy. It does remind me of the agent my fiance and I were working with back in April when we relocated out here. “Are you sure you want to forgo your relocation benefits?” Closing costs and random fees that didn’t add up to 20k. Given the house we were looking at that dropped in price 10 times that amount since then before it finally sold a couple weeks ago (and many others like it)  I’m glad we resisted the “flame”. She’s a nice lady but its hard to trust someone who 1) either was completely clueless as to what was happening, or 2) greedy enough to advise you to make a terrible decision.

update… the realtor blogger has noticed a spike in readership since 11/30 and thinks her counter is broken…

“As I am screwing around behind the scenes of the blog I see a spike in readership - 230+ hits in one day?  That cannot be right. There is 1 habitual reader and maybe…4 others who pop in from time to time to make sure I have not lost my mind yet - because THAT trainwreck will be worth watching!

Anyway….on Nov 30, 234 people checked this site.  Are tater tots that much a draw these days?  I mean I know me and all my friends are obsessed (oh…really?  Just me?) but that is just weird.  218 the next day.  Even weirder.

So, I think the stat counter is lying.  I think it wants me to feel popular.  I think it wants me to feel like I am succeeding at something.  I think the stat counter is oh-so-tired of my bitching that it wants to show me that people read this drivel and I should ratchet it up a notch.”

I feel sad reading that blog.  We all like making fun of the RE folks but she is a person who is clearly struggling.  

I agree. She is a real person in a bad place. deleted the rest… I need to stop reading so many blogs

I feel sad reading this blog too.  We normally would feel compassions toward struggling folks; but yet, we would ridicule a realtor in dispair.  It reminds me of a vicious circle.

My well of schadenfreude has been run dry by this blog.

She’s been in the business for six years.  She’s never seen a bad time before.  She may be busto before the next good time is back.

I didn’t cry for my stockbroker in 2001, and I’m not crying for this lady.  Maybe if my stockbroker had a blog, I’d feel like crying for him like I do for the blogger.

I wish her luck.  She’s going to need it.

When people are humble and appreciative of what they have and realistic about what they have accomplished, it is far easier to feel bad for them when they struggle against circumstances bigger than they are. However, when they are arrogant, have an enormous sense of entitlement and have an inflated opinion of themselves and their abilities, they are asking for ridicule and our schadenfreude.

BTW, she figured out where her extra traffic was coming from. She wrote a post on how it is "different" in her market.

"I am a homeowner, too.  Every last dollar of “savings” is in this house.  If the market crashes, I lose it all.   And I DO believe it will come back.  I happen to live in a great area with great schools, temperate weather and close proximity to the Silicon Valley and San Francisco."

I hope she appreciates the education she is about to receive in the dynamics of financial markets. She will have paid a large tuition the way is sounds…

Peter likes me.  Thank you, Peter.  If you are indeed from the UK, I can see why - the British are funny and never take themselves very seriously.  Americans?  Not so much.
Hey, I got a mention on Her site!
The thing that struck me most when I first found Her Blog was that She and I have so much in common even though She’s a Realtor and I’m in Manufacturing, there is so much going wrong in both fields these Days that you have to laugh, what else can you do?
I was having a conversation with my Mum a couple of years ago, She was telling me about life during WWII, she was telling me how every night they had to sleep in a cold dark air raid Shelter, about the Friends she lost…14 hour Days in a Factory that made Suspenders for the Army and how one morning she arrived at work and the Factory had been destroyed during the night….I asked Her how they got through it all and she said "with a sense of humour"
Oh yes, and I can’t get through 5 minutes at work without using the "F" word either, so that’s another thing we have in common.