I got this question in my in-box from a market rep the other day.
Hey Dan,
I am just trying to figure out here who is the enemy here.The recession or to much free media for the realtors ?
While other busineses are fighting the recession only, and will come back. We are fighting free platforms all over the place. What say you ??
Here’s my answer.
Charles,
I’m sorry for being so slow in getting back to you on this. I’ve been swamped and then lost track of the e-mail. I apologize.
We’re fighting heavy headwinds and they are coming from multiple directions. It’s frustrating.
The proliferation of free web listings makes it easier for agents/brokers to say that they don’t have to do any paid advertising. That works for them when they aren’t making any real money from commissions.
But it doesn’t help them stand out. It just gets the listings out there, into a bunch of different searchable database, just like every other listing in the market.
When I search the homes for sale in my home town, more than 100 are returned in just one price bracket.
How do I pick the agent? What makes them stand out? Do I want to spend all that time researching 100 homes?
There’s still a place for marketing solutions that help agents stand out so that they get more than their fair share of the business. That’s what The Real Estate Book offers.
Our challenge today is that agents aren’t seeing their incomes rise. So they don’t want to spend for high-visibility, quality advertising. As a result, a lot of people are saying there’s no need for that kind of advertising. Those people are being self-serving.
There’s a need. There just isn’t enough business to justify it.
When the market turns, we’ll see our fortunes turn. That will be a good thing.
Dan
The challenge is being able to wait through the downturn.
by drm on October 18, 2010
The headlines announcing that Bank of America has stopped processing foreclosures in order to assess their internal controls are difficult to process. On one hand, this sound like a good thing, because if the pace of foreclosures slows it will diminish the number of families under stress and lighten the overhang of foreclosed properties on the housing market. On the other hand, you don’t get foreclosed on until you’ve stopped paying your mortgage, right? So what’s the big deal.
To sort it out, I recommend you follow the five-part series that kicked off today at Barry Ritholtz’ The Big Picture. The post is authored by Mike Konczal, a fellow at The Roosevelt Institute.
The big question at play isn’t just whether the mortgage processors have been playing fair with homeowners. It’s whether the financial institutions actually know where the original mortgage documentation is. Can they produce the piece of paper they need to have to demonstrate the lien on the property?
The issue is captured neatly in a two-part graphic, reproduced below.
As the post points out, the issue of whether or not the mortgages can be found has significant implications for the financial players.
So keep these frameworks in mind when you see the debate unfold in the next weeks. It is a problem of systemic risk, and it is a problem for the currently cratered securitization market. It will need to be addressed, the sooner the better. But how?
What should we all make of this? Consider it a last, bad joke on the part of the financial services industry. This new “foreclosure crisis” has nothing to do with home values or the ability of home owners to make payments of mortgages. But, it has a lot of potential to slow down the housing market, at a point that the market doesn’t need any more headwinds.
