Wednesday, January 31, 2007

uh... say again??

Hmm... I'm leaving names out because I have no bone to pick with any particular person, but a recent article in local news rag (sorry no link available -- Hey Kingman Daily Miner step into the age of the Internet will ya??) had a very interesting passage about the reason for the local real estate market has softened. It follows...

It was the flood of inexperienced Realtors, (this person) said, who caused the market to drop. When the influx of people started to slow, Realtors urged sellers to lower asking prices.

Whoah. The gal to the right would say the following... WHAT - WHAT -WHAT!! (Southpark TV show reference).

I've not really seen this reason given before by someone in the real estate business. Seen something very similar on many real estate bubble blogs (where pretty much anything bad that has happened in the world will likely be blamed on Realtors in general... not just inexperienced Realtors).

Kingman is a smallish town, the local fish rag is popular, and people talk about what is written in that fish rag like it is gospel (for some outrageous reason). In my view the local rag hates anything growth related, and over the years it is my perception that if the local rag can shine negative light on anything Realtor related -- they will. Which is why I'm giving a liberal benefit of the doubt to the fellow Realtor that was interviewed in the article.

Still it remains that this article was published and it is being talked about throughout town right now (I've taken multiple phone calls from fellow Realtors AND from others who are not in any way shape or form in the real estate business). So I'm going to break it down my way.

First... what is an inexperienced Realtor?? Last year I finished my fifth year as a Realtor. I think of myself as experienced enough to not be called inexperienced by now. However my perceptions may be tricky on this because of my involvement over the years in various forms of Association leadership, both local and state. I find myself surrounded at all kinds of Association meetings by fellow Members who have been in the biz for 10, 20, and even 30 years or more. I don't pretend to put myself up there with the likes of those folks... so I often feel inexperienced when I am in the presence of greatness.

Getting back to it though, so I'm in my sixth year... and do consider myself an experienced real estate agent. At this time of year our own Association is gearing up for our annual awards banquet and I just happen to be in charge of all things related to this event. We give out top production awards to Members... and I have the list... and five of the top ten producers are Realtors with less experience than I have. Are these the inexperienced Realtors that caused the market to drop??

Of course not is the answer. Neither are the great many other Realtors that are newer to the same profession that I have more experience than. I think the correct reasons to the market change have been well documented throughout this blog. Heck I started the blog while the scales were tipping at full tilt away from the white hot market. I've provided plenty of monthly listing and sales reports for any and all to see (including the media folks at the local fish rag... in fact they used my charts a couple of months ago [with permission]).

It is true that the majority of the total Membership of our local Association is 'inexperienced'... meaning most of them have less time in this biz than I have. When I started there were just over 100 Members in the Association, now there are over 450 (the number was as high as 530 late last year). The Kingman area is growing rather rapidly and business was incredibly brisk over the years since I began as a Realtor. Generally people flock to where the opportunities are, and the opportunities certainly were there... and I believe they still are there in many ways. The market will 'thin the heard' if need be.

Blame is a sign of weakness in my opinion. There is no need to place blame on any one person or group of people for the market change... certainly not Realtors, 'inexperienced' or otherwise. I can guarantee that if nobody ever thought up the idea of paying for the service of representing human beings' interest in a real estate transaction... thereby no such thing as a Realtor... the market would have changed anyway.

I express shame towards the quote from the newspaper above. Not towards the fellow Member that may have said it or the journalist that may have manipulated it... I'm leaving people out of it... the shame is simply for the quote.

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