Friday Stories: Jobs; Lessons from Japan; Free Speech at Risk?

Hi Brian, I am unusually disappointed in your understanding of the role that Realtors have played in the housing market. The problem was not that Realtors didn't stop people from buying a houses (as a matter of fact, realtors are forbidden from projecting future value on a property because of legal liabilities), the problem was that unqualified people were able to acheive financing when they never should have been able to get a loan. The easy mortgages that existed made every unqualified buyer a Real Estate Speculator. Certainly you know this. They were buying based on the assumption that prices would keep going up. Do you want to slam every stock broker who told people that Citibank was a great deal at $10.00? If no realtors existed, people would still have purchased houses from the owners, without the knowledge of how the market was trending. When the market heads down, offer less and get a better deal. My assumption is that you don't actually own any property. If you did, you would understand that the process is not easy and that most people need someone familiar with the process to minimize their present and future liability in a transaction. The 6% compensation that realtors receive (and that is NOT the national average) is split between two realtors. So, an average home here in Austin (which is still a GREAT market) is $172,000, making a realtor $5160 before taxes which is very different from your W2 employee who has all of the taxes pulled out. Pleae Brian, get a clue.

Hey Brian, Please do not give that idiot from "Realogy" anymore airtime until he removes his head from his you know what. He is obviously one of the reasons that the economy is where it is today. I cannot believe that he is that clueless about the hand that the Real Estate/Mortgage industry had in this debacle. Therefore, I place him in the liar/deceiver category and for that, he needs to be behind bars.