It’s Still About Pricing

If the bottom of the market has been reached-and I think it has-that bottom has been generated by foreclosures and short sales, not by the efforts of real estate professionals. Harsh words, I know, but the reality of this market is that there are too many agents out there who have indulged, and continue to indulge, the pipe dreams of sellers. Before the foreclosure wave hit, real estate was becoming wildly overpriced. In fact, a great portion of foreclosures can be traced to exotic and irresponsible mortgage insturments invented to enable consumers to get into overvalued properties. Those properties became the excess inventory that sank the market. Now, we seem to be at a point where the market is rising, and pricing is as important as ever. Real estate professionals owe their consumers honesty in valuation. They must talk honestly and frankly to potential sellers, and disabuse them of false notions about what the house is worth. And if those sellers are unwilling to listen, you need to walk away from the listing. If you cannot do this, you’ve just lengthened in time the misery of the down market.