My current pet peeve:

As some of you know my team has been holding a large number of bank repo open houses mostly in the Folsom California market. The potential clients who come to these open houses are looking for a great deal (bargain). Sometimes the banks are realistic and sometimes not.

Until just recently the banks were asking entirely too much, just like many home sellers. I was under the opinion that the problem was starting with the agent who has done the BPO (Broker Price Opinion). These agents seemed to be pricing the homes way too high, and in my estimation, effectively buying the listing, just as some agents do to get their sign in the yard with normal home sellers. As I said that is what I thought, but after some dialog with highly experienced agents I have come to realize that in spite of the fact that the BPO agent and an independent appraiser have given their opinion the bank or the intermediary has over-ruled their recommendation and tells the listing agent what they want the price to be. Normally they reduce prices every 30 days, chasing the market down. Just what we tell sellers not to do. The bankers are apparently smarter than us though.

Many of these REO (Real Estate Owned) agents don't even physically go look at their listings and have the audacity to take it personal when a client makes what they deem as a low ball offer. Our team has made a number of offers for clients who really want to buy and have the ability to purchase. Some of these potential buyers are in fact offering too little, but they have to take on all of the risk. The bank repositions are pretty much all "as-is". Many of the homes are truly wrecked. As people are being forced out of their homes they don't necessarily take good care of what they are about to loose

It appears the solution is that the banks need to rely on who they hire in the local market and value their experience and their price recommendations. If that were to happen we can all sell more properties for a fair price and the public can get a "good deal".