To My Realtor Colleagues – Gimme A Break!

Last weekend, I went into an Open House with one of my buyers that is really struggling with the ‘Rent versus Buy’ decision.  The listing agent handed us an article by Orange County Register’s Jonathon Lanser that shared the good news that home sales was up nearly 60% from a year ago.  In the words of the listing agent, ‘things are turning around’.

As I’ve said before on OC Voice, I’m not convinced that this is necessarily  the turnaround I’m looking for.  Most of this increase in sales is in the most distressed parts of our market.  In addition, 60% increase in sales over the historic lows of 2007 is good,  but clearly not great.  We are still about 50% off in sales volume from 2003 numbers and we are back to 2003 pricing.

Do I think we are approaching a bottom?  I do.  Am I ready to tell my buyers, ‘Hurry, before it’s too late?’  Not necessarily.  I think it may be time for some buyers to take the leap, however there are a lot of factors that go into that decision (stay tuned for my post about renting versus buying in today’s market).

But, I find it insulting when my colleagues reprint articles with a glimmer of hope, so that they may spread them far and wide with a ‘Hurry and Buy Now’ approach.  Consumers are smart.  Information is everywhere.  My clients understand that sales may be up, but prices are down.  My clients all have been watching the market, local trends, and values.  To suggest that if they don’t pull the trigger today, they’ll ‘miss the boat’ insults their intelligence and frankly, it continues to diminish the level of professionalism of the industry as a whole.