I read with great disappointment a recent article by Binyamin Applebaum that appeared in the Boston Globe’s Sunday Magazine. The first issue I would like to take up is that Mr. Applebaum states,
“The National Association of Realtors? “This is the best market in years in terms of choice,” said a recent radio ad. The Northeast Association of Realtors? “It’s a great time to be a home buyer in 2008.” The Massachusetts Association of Realtors? It’s a “buyer’s market.” Behold the eternal, unbearable optimism of real estate agents.”
While all of these statements have been made by the above organizations, it is not because of ‘unbearable’ optimism. This is the best market in years in terms of choice. It’s a fact. The inventory is so high right now that buyers can view any number of homes without problem. It is a great time to be a home buyer this year. Sellers are beginning to realize that they will not get their high asking price, and many are willing to negotiate and offer incentives like HDTVs and $ that in other years they would never have thought about offering. It is a buyer’s market. This is not an optimistic statement, but rather a term that is widely used in the real estate industry. A buyer’s market occurs when there is more supply than demand, thus giving buyers the upper hand. In recent years the market was a seller’s market, when, you guessed it, there was more demand than supply, allowing sellers to ask for, and receive, top dollar for their properties. As a professional in this industry, I am disappointed that a ‘residential real estate reporter’ cannot figure these things out.
As for his claim that,
“I write often about people facing foreclosure. With some regularity, real estate agents write me to ask if the people used an agent to buy the home. The answer usually is yes. Real estate agents in recent years helped many people buy homes they could not afford.“,
I also take offense. Sure, there are unscrupulous agents out there who are more worried about their paychecks than about their clients. As an exclusive buyer’s agent, I sign a contract with each of my clients that states I will put their interests ahead of all others, including my own. In fact, all real estate agents are supposed to apply this to their dealings with buyers and sellers. Across the board, a few bad apples exist in any field, and real estate is not immune to this problem. Additionally, real estate agents are not finance professionals, lenders, nor lawyers, and we must, by law, state to our clients that we are not professionals in any industry except real estate and encourage them to obtain the advice of other professionals. We can provide the names of professionals to help out our clients so that they make an informed purchase, or in the case of traditional agents, and informed sale. The fact that many now cannot afford their homes has more to do with adjustable rate mortgages they may or may not have understood the consequences of at the time of signing (the lenders’ fault, most likely, for not explaining fully the terms of their mortgage), as well as the very real problem of the rating agencies that assigned higher grades to less-than-prime loans than they should have, which is its own separate issue I will expound upon later.
I realize this was a ‘perspective’ piece, but Mr. Applebaum should closely examine his perspective and perhaps do some fact checking before writing damaging statements in a highly visible magazine like the Sunday magazine that comes with the Sunday Boston Globe.
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