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What is Our Image in the Foreclosure Market?

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Crossroads Real Estate LLC

I dare you. Do a search on the Internet to find information to avoid foreclosure. You already know what you will find. An endless list of sites selling a list of foreclosed properties. How do you think this makes the home owner looking for help feel? Hopeless.

There is little if any effort to help people facing foreclosure. Chances are an Internet search will not supply the information people in need are seeking. The search engines are flooded by paid ads from companies trying to make money from the unfortunate situation a home owner finds themselves in. Is this how we want the home sales industry portrayed to the public?

It doesn’t matter who runs these sites, people think these sites are owned by Real Estate Companies. What do you think this is doing for our image? How many people are getting the impression, Real Estate Agencies are out to make money and have no feelings for those in need? If we like it or not the publicity we are receiving from these actions is an image of circling vultures, waiting for the next foreclosure.

Here in Wisconsin our continuing education hours have been increased by 50%. Many of these additional hours involve training designed to understand foreclosures and the loan process. Having agents take additional hours of training, aimed at understanding foreclosures may give a good fuzzy feeling to our state officials. They may feel they have done their part in reducing the number of foreclosures. They may have received a sizable federal grant to introduce this program. But what is being done with this information? After we receive this additional training, what do we do with it? Does anyone know we have this information?

The training includes a few links we can pass along to people in need of help, but that’s about it. The training does not cover the concept of how we are supposed to use this information. Why doesn’t the state government of WRA advertise the fact Real Estate Agents can help point people in the right direction for help?

The quickest way we can get back to a normal market is to reduce the amount of foreclosures. There are a number of tools available to us. Passing along information on loan restructuring, the name of a good real estate attorney, providing sales figures to give an estimate of property value and days in the market.

Local Real Estate Associations need to provide links to government approved agencies providing help to home owners. Many cities have targeted grant and loan programs for neighborhoods hit hardest with foreclosures. This information should also be provided.

Before we can hope to see a stable housing market, Real Estate Agents need to become more proactive in providing useful information to the public. Our federal, state and local governments are not going to do the job. The media is a joke. The only way we can make a difference is to accept the responsibility. Information is power.

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Comments (1)

Joyce Thomas
The Thomas Group Brokered by eXp Realty - San Tan Valley, AZ
Your Home Sold Guaranteed!

Great post!  Can't believe I am first to comment.  I agree as agents we need to be proactive in providing information to the public and our potential cients. 

Nov 22, 2009 07:10 AM