Realtors are stuck in 1980

Hello REALTORs it's time to stop, drop, and roll. It's not 2008 anymore, and homes aren't all fire sales. You need to change your language, your attitude, your pricing, your approach ... or get out of the business because right now you're just hurting all of us.

I was talking a bit on twitter with Dave Woodson, a social media guru and consultant with businesses that actually believe in growth. He got me thinking about the state of our industry right now. We seem to have a lot of the wrong people and not very many of the right. Let me be frank, and this won't go well for a lot of real estate professionals out there:

1. You aren't worth 7%, or 5% or even 3% of the sale of my home. If my home sells for $200,000 do you seriously think that signing a couple pages of boilerplate contract is worth $6,000 or $10,000 or more? I know I get access to your MLS, but you have heard about Zillow and the internet right? I'm betting that sign, that continually leans to the side in my front yard, cost you $150. I'm betting your MLS membership is about $1,500. So you're telling me that you need to make $10,000 for watching me sign your documents, when in all actuality someone else sold my house to the new buyers?
   
2. If all you're going to do is talk in inside baseball recession language, you're only hurting the sale of my home, property values in general, and your own income. When you say things like "let's make a low ball offer and see what they do" or "no one is getting approved for mortgages right now" or "we can list it there, but it will have to be reduced before we'll get any showings" ... you show me that you don't really understand selling. I want my home sold, if all I needed was an order taker I'd have someone in Pakistan handle it. The recession is over, housing is in full recovery, and rates are at historic lows ... pull your head out of the sand and start selling at full price!
   
3. You don't really understand mortgage finance, as a matter of fact it so confuses you that you just hand me and your other customers off to the few remaining lenders in a now over-regulated mess. Sure you told me that the rates were 4.5% yesterday, but do you even know what makes up that rate? Do you know anything about mortgage approvals or how long it takes to get one, or even what real closing costs are now that President Obama fixed housing. (ie. closing costs are now double 2008) It's time you sat down and listened to one of the survivors, things are a lot different and you need to know what you're doing.
   

Most homes aren't in foreclosure, as a matter of fact in NW Indiana only about 5% are. Stop lowballing every house you look at.

Due to Mitch Daniels' tax caps, most homes have seen property taxes plummet in NW Indiana, and could go down even more this year.

FHA is still out there, meaning that buyers can buy with as little as 3.5% down payment. And frankly if they don't have the money today, they will by the time you and your little "offer" game are over. Show them how to save, show them how easy it can be to buy right now at 4.5% interest rates. If they have a 580 credit score, hold their hands and get them to 620.

I'm sorry, I really am because the last great fight I had with a real estate professional ended up with she and I not talking for many years. But I was right then, and am now. You aren't worth more than I will make selling my house or even close to $10,000. In many ways your industry like the mortgage industry is so over-regulated that you resemble amateur attorneys more than anything else.

Sell please, sell with everything you've got.

I once had a old and wise builder tell me "Steve, a realtor is someone who sees an inevitable bus collision about to happen, and throws themselves in front of it just in time" ... Create something that isn't there now, or you really will have become the buggy whips of 2011.