I am that agent. (?)
Really?
Is this the way it’s going to be?
I have to read someone slamming my chosen profession?
From Sunday’s Globe magazine:
… Real estate agents in recent years helped many people buy homes they could not afford.
I don’t hear agents talking about this or chewing on the consequences. Instead, I hear that the good times will return again if home buyers will just . . . buy . . . homes.
Perhaps I’m listening in the wrong places. Perhaps somewhere sits a real estate agent slumped in a chair, hands around coffee, saying, “Listen, that home is too expensive. The market is really bad. I think you should wait.”
Nah. I’m probably just being optimistic.
I guess that’s supposed to be a criticism. That real estate agents push people to buy homes. Or, homes they couldn’t afford. (Maybe you’ve heard this one before.)
Where would these supposed conversations take place? Do people just wander into coffee shops and hear agents mumbling in the corner, “You should (not) buy a home …”
Most people only talk with real estate agents … when they are looking to buy a home!
The problem with the reporter’s comments is that they seem a bit naive.
Fundamentally, he reflects an opinion of someone who seems to have very little knowledge of how the market (and business) actually works.
I have never had a conversation with a buyer about whether or not this is a good time for him or her to buy a home. How would I know? Unless it’s someone in my own family, I have no idea what’s in my clients’ past or in their futures. I don’t know my clients’ financial situation well enough, I don’t know their tolerance for risk, I don’t know their psyche.
That’s not what a real estate agent does.
This is how it usually works: Most people, most couples, sit around, slumped in a chair, hands wrapped around cups of coffee, saying, “Honey, do you think we should move this year, or wait until next? We need an extra bedroom, and another bathroom, but it looks like you might lose your job, next round of cuts, so should we move or stay where we are?”
Well, at least that’s the types of conversations I assume most Boston Globe reporters have been having during the past year. No?
Source: The (Always) Sunny Side of the Street / No matter the market conditions, real estate agents say “Buy now!” Their profits may rise, but not their stature. – By Binyamin Applebaum, The Boston Globe
