I have been in the real estate industry since 1994. Real estate agent, sales manager, franchise sales, and currently Franchise VP for Assist-2-Sell, America's Leading Discount Real Estate Company.
With all due respect, is this a joke? How do you think we got into this mess? People buying homes they couldn't possibly afford unless they got a crazy low interest rate. You can either afford to buy a home based on your credit, down payment, and the current interest rates or you can't PERIOD. This program would do nothing but prolong the inevitable. We need to quit trying to figure out a way to get people that have no business buying homes, buying homes. Getting the government involved in manipulating interest rates is a recipe for disaster. Ryan Elliott ryanassist@gmail.com
The headline of your article should read long live full price commissions. Paying a full price commission doesn’t mean you are going to receive full service or better service. I don’t share you view of booking airline tickets. I used a travel agent to book a trip for me a couple years back and it was a nightmare. I didn’t have a long enough layover and almost missed my connecting flight, the hotel room was a disaster. Needless to say I book my own flights and rooms. I save money and I know what to expect. I do the research in advance and compare prices, I found out how close I am going to be to attractions, I make sure I have plenty of time for flight connections etc.. I feel more comfortable doing some of the leg work and research. I believe the same is true for real estate. What I don’t get is as an industry should be getting more efficient. We should be doing a greater volume of transactions and passing value/savings to the consumer. We have electronic lock boxes, email, web sites, fax machines, cell phones, blogs, etc. Our industry operates and charges the same as it did 20-30-40 years ago. Change is upon us. Agents will always be a part of the equation, but their rolls and fees will be changing more and more every year. Ryan Elliott ryanassist@gmail.com
I for one am praying for an iterest rate increase. If no one is buying anything, why lower interest rates? People will slow down on discretionary spending, like new cars, TVs, dinner out, Ipods, etc.. People will not/can not stop spending money on staples and energy. People need fuels for their cars, food on the table, and energy for their home, everything else can wait. Inflation caused by the weak dollar (and many other factors) is causing these items to go through the roof. We need to do what we can to strengthen the US dollar and slow inflation down. People will begin to spend again when they are not emptying their bank accounts to fill up their cars and buy groceries! Ryan Elliott ryanassist@gmail.com
