I have declared 2008 the year of distress!
There's a crazy looking distressed image for ya. . .
Everything that I am working on has a "distressed" component. If it is not a distressed sale (short sale) or a distressed property (neglected REO bank owned), then I am working with a Buyer who has distressed credit.
In fact I would have to say that the distress is not just limited to the clients and property, but extends to the real state professionals that I am working with as well. Every day I speak with distressed Realtors who are despairing over their lower than average sales. There are also many distressed loan officers who are moving around with every retail banking outlet closing in order to find better positions in the shrinking lending market.
What is the solution? I am not sure, but it seems that distress leads to dis-trust. The one thing that we cannot do is dis-trust one another as real estate professionals. The people who jumped in when the market was hot have all left now that it has gone cold. I think those of us left need to work together in order to maximize every opportunity that we have. We need to be thinking about referrals all the time. We need to be linking with people who can help us make the most of our time and effort as we work with these most difficult transactions. We need to bring order out of all of this chaos. Let's get back to basics, working harder, but working together. I say call that Realtor, Loan Officer, Real Estate Attorney and grab a coffee, bitch about the market and discuss how you can work together with new loan products, new legal strategies and new marketing ideas to turn things around.
-photo from congnitive distortion.com
Hey Nyles,
Love the photo! more importantly, I love the solution - call some colleagues, get the 'distress ' out of our systems - then get down to work - solve some problems and make something happen!
Take care, Laurie
Hi Nyles,
If you think that real estate agents are showing signs of distress, just think about what their clients are feeling. As a for sale by owner service, we are seeing a new kind of seller. In the good times, consumers chose to use our marketing services because we had the best exposure and marketing knowledge that would result in them selling successfuly. They made an educated financial decision that netted them thousands of dollars. In these bad times, they no longer feel it's a choice to sell privately, but a necessity to recoup their equity by avoiding paying a commission.
There is no easy solution to the mess we're all in, but it's kind of like cleaning out an overstuffed closet. This closet that's bursting at the seams is full of unused items that were purchased as a result of greed and impulsive behavior. We are cleaning out our nation's closet now. The resulting "purge" will rid the real estate industry of greedy agents, mortgage brokers and others whose motivations leaned more toward serving themselves than their clients. That's a good thing.
Good real estate agents will be able to weather the storm, undoubtedly. Hopefully, the result will be a real estate industry filled with new innovations, greater acceptance of other, newer business models, and a greater desire to allow flexibility in working with consumers.
It has been a distressing year and a challenging market. I find that some humor is a great way to deal with some of these things. I find that there are a lot of agents that are really grouchy these days -- humor sometimes is a bit disarming.