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We just closed on a house last Friday. Been one hectic month. Times sure have changed since the last one I bought in '06. Everything is going quick where I'm at. Average time on the market is 28 days during last quarter. There is just no inventory and buyers are jumping on what they can. I looked at the house we just bought a year ago, but it was way out of my price range, it was taken off the market, new roof, carpet, paint, and listed for less than before. I offered less of course and they took it. Seeing what they walked away at closing, they were in a pinch and just needed to get out of it. My patience paid off. Got it for 91grand less that what it initially listed for a year ago, and got them to throw in a new 5ton carrier system and pay for some waterproofing work....and of course the new roof I mentioned. My sister is selling her rental property and its been under contract 4 times in 3 months...she's just dealing with stupid FHA loan buyers and loan requirements.....and millinnials that feel a 70 year old home should be basically a new house.

That's right, the more it sells for the higher the commission, always remember that.

It’s all talk until it’s on paper. They’ll buddy buddy behind your back in a heartbeat.

This.

And the biggest scam going right now is agents who start bidding wars. It's unethical and it really should be illegal.

The price offered is the price to sell. I'm damned if I'll start putting money in his pocket like that.

Here's the secret, whether working with an agent or not. Educate yourself!!! Be a knowledgeable buyer or seller. Don't be an a-hole; but, make your agent earn his/her commission. Have them find things like, how long house has been on market, for what price did the house sell previously? Is seller moving to another town? Job change? How desperate are they? Same for sellers. The list goes on and on. I repeat, educate yourself and make your agent work for the commission they seek.

Bidding wars happen all the time in SoCal and I'm sure other popular places.

When there's an open house and folks with cash (Chinese and other foreigners, some Americans too) start a bidding war, it's not the agents fault.

Good ol' capitalism at its finest.

Geno

If you want to know why house prices are so high in so many places, blame bidding wars and dirty money from overseas.

Capitalism does not include normal working people missing out on a place to live because of some criminal using the real estate market to launder dirty money.

Seattle is notorious for empty Chinese held houses, or so I’m told.


$250,000 sale with 3% buyer/seller commission. Show me $15,000 worth of “work” and I’ll kiss your ass.

Capitalism does exactly that. Capitalism doesn't care where the money came from. In many places in Cali and others where "real estate" in the form of housing is at a premium, the money comes from hard working, two earner family folks, who sometimes are overextended or putting off other wants to get the house of their desires in a neighborhood they enjoy.

The Chinese issue is a direct result of capitalism ( of their sort) giving folks there some disposable income. Just what our Country went through, especially after WW2.

Capitalism doesn't care where the money comes from. Society might, social mores and such. But not the capitalist system. One only need to go back about 10 years to see that in the "real estate" market taking the banking sector of the economy down.

Would be really hard, property "rights" and all, to try to legislate against bidding wars and a person getting as much for their for sale item as they can. Not a very conservative ideal methinks,

Geno

The "capitalism" you describe is more of feudal "robber baron" model.

There are very few places in the world where private non-citizens can own property. There's nothing "conservative" about it. I don't know any conservative who advocates for criminals to have free rein to destroy the market. It's a failure of the government to put checks and balances in place to stop criminal enterprises from profiting further with their ill-gotten gains.

ETA: and I never claimed to be a conservative. I actually lean libertarian but I still believe that one of the jobs of government is to catch and punish criminals, not support them.

Price is what you pay, value is what you get. Houses bought for the purpose of saving a yen will inflate the market, thereby inflating borrowing, until the bubble breaks.....again.

It’s easy to bid with borrowed money, when a buyer is only worried about a payment range....especially if it keeps inflating.

Funny though, is real estate taxes in urban areas. Middle class neighborhoods house the cops that spend all their time patrolling the poor neighborhoods funded from the expensive neighborhoods.

And I agree with you wholeheartedly. That's the job of government.

But it's not the job of the capitalist system.

Our government would have a very hard time, well let's say those elected officials would have a hard time staying elected, if they tried to institute regulations saying a person couldn't have a bidding war on their private property and then sell to the highest bidder whether said bidder was a citizen or a foreigner, from whatever country.

Hell, our elected officials haven't even been able to come up with an immigration (cheap labor) policy in my lifetime. Too much money (capitalist money) is riding on it.

Can you imagine the stink from the real estate/mortgage/banking industry if they tried to put stiffer regulations on who they could sell to?

I don't think it's "right" but I'm a realist and that's the way it seems to be and it doesn't seem likely to change any time soon.

And, like you I have libertarian leanings.

Geno

PS and maybe even a progressive leaning or two.

Plenty of other countries have rules against foreign land ownership. China itself does, simply through their communist (gov't owns everything) system. Even Hong Kong is 100% owned by the gov't and land-leased.

Take out the criminal money and house prices would become affordable again.

And, being a real estate agent is a privilege, not a right. In exchange for that privilege and access to the oligopoly that limited licensure gives them, they have to abide by certain rules. Government regulation of professions includes the responsibility of gov't to put limits on professionals in order to protect the public interest.

That's why lawyers don't get to play the stock market with their trust accounts, psychiatrists don't get to f*ck their patients and pharmacists don't get to raid their own drug cabinets. And real estate agents shouldn't get to sell to foreign dirty money.

Don't know about your great country,

but we'd need a sea change and very good luck to do what you're suggesting here.

RE agents are already regulated, as others here have pointed out, and sometimes those who don't follow the rules are prosecuted and lose their privileges.

Personally, I think foreign investment in not only land, but corporations, etc should be very well regulated. But in this country I'm not sure it would fly with the business interests that thrive on investment.

Kids that want to afford a house will just have to work harder..........................or as some are always suggesting to us Californios.....................move.

I have relatives and their kids in areas where they find it hard to find a place to rent for a reasonable price so I understand our concerns. The Chambers of Commerce and the RE, Loan and Banking industries do not share our concerns.

Geno

The rules have to be in place before you can prosecute someone for breaking it.

A couple of simple changes:

Make a regulation that a RE agent has to set a sale price. If a house sells above the listed price, the RE is not entitled to any commission over the listed price.

Secondly, stop the sale of private land to foreign owners, period. Many countries will permit non-citizen ownership of condos, etc., but not land. Commercial real-estate can be sold because it's mostly through corporations and there are enough checks and balances on corporations to be able to target dirty money. If it doesn't crack down on the corporations, too.

Rule 1 is never fall in love with a house, especially before you buy it.

You can write that in a listing agreement if you intend to use an agent. Way too many people think that it’s all carved in stone.

With realtor.com and Zillow, who hell needs an agent anyway.

They’re pretty big lobbyists too...people tend to forget.

I sold my last 3 personal homes by owner. The title company does most all the work anyway.

I'd be willing to bet there's some decent size contributions to politicians on both sides of the aisle also.

Geno

I’ve bought a few houses over the years, a couple without using an agent, too.

Would I be racist if I told the agent I wouldn’t accept any offers of foreign money?