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Should Lie Detector Tests be Mandatory to All Real Estate Professionals?

Well this subprime problem to the economy is akin to the climate cliff of the Doom and Gloom Global Warming Alarmists. There are many factors involved here, even some overseas providing huge amounts of capital to financial markets for home loans. Everyone is busy blaming everyone else and the lawyers are having a hay day dragging everyone into court. As if errors and omissions insurance is not high enough in other industries, its about to skyrocket again.

So, who is to blame for all this subprime lending? The Realtors proclaim their innocence from the highest mountains in all the lands, with seven flags from seven hills with bugles blowing and blazing through the night, with a PR campaign to boot and one, which is out of sight. The Mortgage Brokers, which everyone was, your hairdresser, your landscaper's wife, everyone sold mortgages, everyone in your life. They cannot be blamed for loans of the mob, you see, they were only doing their job.

sales guy

We must blame the President, surely he must have been wrong. We blame him for everything including continental drift, whenever there is a problem or a minor rift. The Investment Bankers and financial elite, blame the consumer for their defeat. They took out mortgages they knew they could not pay, all so they could live in a dream house at the end of their day.

Well, I have a solution one, which you will like, and with this plan you can tell the others to take a hike. The Donald Trump real estate blame game is alive and well, as they try to throw the Realtors into a fiery hell. But, if they are innocent as they state, then let's give them all lie detector tests in 2008. As part of the on-going education and license itself, then they can put these accusation to rest on the back shelf.

Submit to a test to detect your lies and from blame game ashes you shall rise. If Realtors are innocent surely they would care, open your minds for, a test for all who dare?

The public would be better served as well as the industry if all Realtors would submit to lie detector tests to insure that they are of the highest ethical standards. Something to contemplate in 2008.

Posted by Lance Winslow on 01/02/2008 06:39 PM

Comments (22)

innocense, ethics, real estate, realtors, mortgage brokers, investment bankers, economy

22 Comments on Should Lie Detector Tests be Mandatory to All Real Estate Professionals?

JAN

2008

Big Brother? Is that you? Lie detector tests are for LENDERS, not Real Estate Professionals!!! It's called Sub-prime LENDING, not Sub Prime Real Estate Brokerage...The one who lent it, spent it!

Unfortunately realtors are to blame also. I can't tell you how many times over the years I have told a realtor that I can get the value. But low and behold the realtor gets a comp 2 or 3 miles away when it was in a city. Sure the banks are to blame for accepting such a poor comparable, but the realtor is to blame too.

Russ, are you SURE you believe that? Maybe I should give you a quick lie detector test...NO WAIT TRUTH SERUM...or maybe something even MORE invasive...

No, seriously...did you then tell those Realtors to take their business elsewhere because you weren't going to use their comps? BTW...I have only had ONE property not come in at value and it was last month...OUT OF 13 YEARS, so something else may be happening in your neck of the woods.

Lania, I could not have said it better!

Lania,

You make a very Strong Argument Lania, Touche! Indeed, it is called the "Subprime Lending Fallout" in the media, but its also called the Housing Bubble, that burst and Realtors sell houses, that's what they do, while lenders sell money and mortgages. I am not making any judgments really, and these conversations go on all over towns in America every single day, in fact this article was inspired by two things, hostile dialogue against my personal character from realtors, that prompted me to spin the article this way, and a conversation I heard today at the Cross Creek Starbucks here in Malibu between a "somebody" in the Mortgage Industry (CEO) and some of his real estate investor friends who happen to be some friends of mine. Personally, I don't much blame the Real Estate Agents caught up in the game or the other players who were but pawns in a MUCH Bigger game, yet, I still think the question is a fair one and if you feel its wrong then you may defend yourself, as you have here and that is also fair and I say; Well good for you for speaking out! - Lance

JAN

2008

I say sign up for the lie detector tests for everyone with shock treatment when you lie.....would love to just see the look on their faces...and while you're at it, ask that CEO if he'd be willing to participate...somehow, I doubt it......

Bill,

You are pure evil, did you formerly work at the CIA or did you destroy the proof and tapes of evidence? Just kidding, but boy did some folks read me the riot act on this one? Wow, I posted it in the Humor Section at Active Rain, why all the complaints? Lance

JAN

2008

Sounds like Nazi Germany to me, you are proposing what Hitler would have and you are acting like a raving lunatic. A genius with a cause. You are writing scathing posts here and I am going to turn you into the Active Rain Management Team to get your Blog shut down just like we shut down Saddam Hussein and OBL. Thank the good Lord that you are not incharge of the world you remind me of pol pot acting like a raving lunatic

My Dear James,

You know, I've tried to be nice but you have to stop sending me threatening emails guy. No I am not going to turn you in. I know you are a Vietnam Veteran and I thank you for serving our great nation. But you're going to have to stop calling me all these BS names. Many professions take lie detector tests, it is just a thought. What if all the politicians took them, no corruption? If all the lawyers took them, we would be better off and if realtors took them no one could claim fraud, because they could prove they did not kick their dog. James, please chill out man.

Well...I've been following the few comments on this one and while I can take a joke, it is scary for me to think that a fellow American would want us to take any kind of mandatory tests...and what, if anything, would we be testing for? Judgment?

I sold homes to people that couldn't afford them and I told the people that they really should be buying something a little less expensive and thinking about long term goals...climbing up the property ladder gradually, etc... they didn't listen and they still don't.

People want MORE than what they can afford. If they did not, there would be no such thing as a credit card or a mortgage to begin with. If you want to be 100% honest, Lance, the only people that can "AFFORD" to purchase a home are the ones that can pay cash. EVERYONE ELSE...LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE is at risk of borrowing money and not being able to pay it back. They could lose their job. They could die. Anything could happen.

What you are asking is for someone to be a supreme judge and calculate the risk of each loan. God would be qualified, but not a Realtor or a Lender or any of the other people on your list. Not to mention what you are intimating that you would like for our society to "evolve" into...

Where would we stop? Should police be able to give every suspect a lie detector test? Should parents be able to give every teenager a lie detector test? Should all of the Presidential candidates be wired up for the debates so the nation can rate their lie detector test results?

People bought homes that they shouldn't have, and they STILL DO. How far should the responsibility of the Realtor span? A real estate broker may have a client choose a house on the corner of a busy street in a flood zone. Maybe the house used to be a meth lab. Maybe the house has been on the market for twelve years, but this particular client loves it, despite all the disclosures and against all sound advice, and wants to buy it. Maybe the reason it's been on for 12 years is that the seller won't take less than full price and this particular buyer is willing to pay full price! Is it going to be the real estate professional's fault if the client purchases the home and can never sell it again? Should the real estate professional act like God and tell that client that he/she REFUSES to sell them the house. (BTW that would be a violation of the client's rights and a breach of agency),

What about all of the clients we see that are having trouble keeping their marriages together and they think a new home will make them happy...are we responsible to make sure they don't buy one in case they get divorced? We can tell them moving is stressful. We can tell them the house won't make them happy if they are not already happy. We can tell them that they may be under MORE pressure to make payments on their new home. But what if they want to buy it anyway?

What are you saying should have been done and by whom?

Good Morning Lance...it's has been a LONG time since I'd heard your name. I used to work at Westlake Thrift & Loan when you first started out! Back in the day when you needed "those" bankers (the ones who made loans happen.) Anyway, nice to see how much your business has grown.

I am a little shocked to see that you would want to be having anyone take a lie detector test. This idea makes me think of that Tom Cruise movie Minority Report. But back to your blog...maybe I've missed something...why is it that you only want the Realtor to take the lie detector test? Why such hostility toward Realtors? I don't think anyone is burying their head in the sand, but I just am not getting why you're sooo angry at Realtors?

Let's be frank:

The job of a realtor is to show homes that fall into a certain price range (usually a price range recommended by the lender...not the real estate agent).

As a real estate agent, I never recommend a lender - most buyers have already been pre-qualified or pre-approved (for what that is worth), but if they have not, I tell them to call a few banks and mortgage companies (and stick with the familiar names in the industry).

HOW AM I, AS A REAL ESTATE AGENT, TO BE BLAMED IF MY BUYER AGGREES TO THE TERMS OF AN AJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGE AND IS UNABLE TO REFINANCE BEFORE THE LOAN RESETS?

The answer to that question is: I'M NOT

Realtors should not be giving ANY mortgage advice, appraisal advice, legal advice, environmental advice, construction advice, engineering advice, plumbing, electrical, Etc. Etc. Etc.

We are licensed ONLY to help connect buyers and sellers of real property. If a lawyer gives our clients bad legal advice, the lawyer is at fault. If an appraiser overestimates the value of a house, the appraiser is at fault. If a plumber doesn't fix a leaky faucet properly, the plumber is at fault.........and last but not least:

If a lender puts a buyer in an inappropriate loan product or does not disclose to that buyer the risks of that product, the LENDER is at fault.

And in many cases:

The BUYER must share some responsibility!

The lending industry has been grossly unregulated. If real estate agents treated customers like some of the unscrupulous lenders that I have encountered in the past 15 years, they would have lost their licenses and been sued.

I'm confident that there is a silver lining in all of this. I envision that one day in the near future, we will encounter nothing but smooth transactions without all of the "mortgage drama" ...."lender abuse"....and the old-fashioned "bait and switch" so rampant in the 1990s and early 2000s. Thank God!

I guess you know where I stand on the issue....now....will the Patriots win the Super bowl? :)

Lance,

I addressed this on one of your other posts. There is plenty of blame to go around. As for me and my house(my company) we will do what is right all the time period...We all need to do what is right all the time.

We all know that lie-detector tests are unreliable unless administered by a serious professional. And those professionals don't come cheap.

Hey people wait one minute, in a previous post everyone said that they were totally innocent and objected to any accusations of any wrong doings in the industry. But now that we start talking about lie detector tests everyone is freaking out, what gives? Why all the back tracking? If you are innocent then what are you all afraid of? It will clear your good name, you will be elevated in the eyes of the public, people will trust their Real Estate Agent Again? What's wrong with that. Someone above mentioned presidential candidates, of course they should be given lie detector tests absolutely. So, stop being chicken and just say Yes! - Lance

K Lance...weren't you the one that mentioned the CIA above in a reference to Bill being "evil"? Because I'm certain that you have to have lie detector tests to work with the CIA and we all know that there has never been any corruption or deception within that orgainzation, right? You moot your own point.

PS...I do like the way your post aggravates me, though. It makes blogging fun. You're like the extreme left of the blog...so no offence!

Lania,

But if I really worked for the CIA, we have ways to make you talk. Lie Detector Machines are okay, but there are better and more efficient ways to extract information that I don't think either Al Qeada or Realtors would like to endure. If all real estate people submit to Lie Detector tests then we can all learn what is really going on and those who are innocent will be free from speculation and conspiracy. Lance.

JAN

2008

I will take a lie detector test IF I get continuing education credits!

Chris,

Good point, this should automatically max out all the on-going credits for the year, because the regulator's reasons for on-going education is to protect the consumer and this would prove the consumer is protected. Lance

JAN

2008

Hilarious concept. Better yet if our noses grow longer each time we lie. Then our clients can see when they are being lied to and run the other way. (Hopefully to a short-nosed Realtor like me!)

Marsha,

Ah ha, now then some Congressman or Regulator will probably stand on a podium and try to make that a law, I bet. Lance

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