by Barry Cunningham

Real Estate Broadcaster and Investor

Author website

Nearly 90% of consumers recently polled say they are not interested in buying a home any time soon.  A joint poll of the Associated Press and AOL indicated that the recovery of the housing sector will not be any time soon if the retail American consumer has anything to say about it.

60% of those polled stated that they were DEFINITELY not going to buy a home anytime soon while just 0ver 10% said they would be looking to purchase a new home in the near future.

You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to see that there is a tremendous amount of inventory available for a very slim and decreasing demand. If supply and demand ideology is true, then it is safe to say that there are going to be an overwhelmingly increasing number of unsold homes.

Since unsold homes equates to unearned commissions, what are the majority of real estate agents going to do? Earlier this year, we wrote what was viewed as an inflammatory article announcing the NAR Going Out Of Business Sale. Doesn’t sound too far fetched anymore does it?

Don’t Believe It’s A Going Out Of Business Sale…Then Somebody’s Lying To You!

While this news of prospective buyers not wanting to purchase any homes is somewhat disconcerting, it’s not the main reason to be alarmed. It’s merely a by product of a continued misunderstanding of the simple economic precept of supply and demand.

Many current home sellers do not understand it, and many listing agents do not understand it. It is my opinion that if this theory was more understood and accepted, then it is possible that the housing market would not be in the state that it is.

The Laws of Supply and Demand represent the cornerstone of economics and these laws are the basis for a free market economy. DEMAND is based upon how many buyers are interested in acquiring a certain product or service AND how much of that service or product they are interested in consuming. The latter part of that statement is often overlooked.

When planning to bring a product or service to market it is prudent to have a good Read more

by Doug Quance

Associate Broker

Author website

Looking For That Silver Lining – And Then Finding It

Around the beginning of this year, my favorite loan officer called me up to ask if I would list one of her clients homes for sale. He had fallen on hard times, and needed to sell quickly. He had only been in the property for a year, but had adequate equity to get him out.

The home was a fairly long drive (outside of my normal area) but I agreed to go and talk to him. I spent a few hours with him – including walking him through many low-cost steps to bring the home up to a more marketable condition.

I also educated him on the current market conditions – including the status in his subdivision. This education included a drive to inspect a couple of active listings (featuring a HUD foreclosure) so that he could see firsthand what he was up against.

The sad reality of paying too much for the house when he bought it (he was an unrepresented buyer); the current market conditions; combined with some damage from teenagers and dogs – meant he wasn’t likely going to get much out of the property when sold – especially since he couldn’t continue making payments.

So we pretty much agreed on the listing price, and that I would come back in a week after he had the chance to knock off the items on his punch list – as he needed to leave and take his kids to a special event.

I spoke with him a few times during the week to check in on his progress (which wasn’t going too well) but he assured me that he would be ready by the following week for me to come out and get the listing signed and the pictures taken.

Meanwhile, I ordered his website domain and sign for his single property website.

The day before going out to take his listing, I called him up to confirm our appointment… but didn’t reach him – so I left a voicemail.

He never called back.

So the day of the appointment, I called him… and again – no success. Normally, Read more

by Barry Cunningham

Real Estate Broadcaster and Investor

Author website

Do you know that the Realtor who you have your house listed with is actually still earning their living as a Realtor? That was the concern recently voiced and posed to us by a concerned agent in Poinciana, Florida.

“In Central Florida, for example, over 50% of real estate agents are not actively working their listings. (That’s an approximation based on the number of agents who never return my calls and/or are know to now have full-time jobs doing something else.) Seems to me that there is something inherently unethical about REALTORS who don’t disclose to their customers that they aren’t working full-time to sell their properties.”

While I understand that this agent is probably a bit frustrated with her Central Florida colleagues and may be embellishing a bit, this comment gave me reason to ponder the implications of her statement.

A real estate agent approaches a homeowner and seeks to obtain a listing, prepares a listing presentation, and obtains a listing, all the while knowing that they will only be working part-time to sell the homeowner’s property. The homeowner, of course thinking they are hiring a professional, would probably not think to ask this “professional” if they are only in the game on a part-time basis.

Obviously this is not something the part-time “professional” is going to offer or disclose willingly, so therein lies the dilemma. Is there an inherent misrepresentation if an agent does not inform the homeowner that they are not earning enough of a living as a real estate agent and is not a full-time agent?

Does the homeowner have the right to know in order to make a fully informed and properly represented hiring decision that could possibly involve the signing of a binding contract?

In reviewing the National Association of Realtors Code of Ethics there seems to be some evidence to support the notion that an agent should indeed inform a homeowner of their status as a part-time agent.

Article 12
REALTORS® shall be honest and truthful in their real estate communications and shall present a true picture in their advertising, marketing, and other representations. REALTORS® shall ensure that their status as real Read more