1 million plus members, many of whom do a good enough job on their own being fodder for the media, do you really need to be paying dues to an organization which continues to be the horse’s ass of trade unions?
C’mon, we know that there are more than enough reasons why a lot of consumers feel that being a real estate agent is maybe neck and neck with the local sanitation engineer (no offense meant to the sanitation engineer) but when will the rank and file members stand up and scream that they just aren’t going to take it anymore!!
This clip from the Glenn Beck show is an absolute riot. Too bad it’s absolutely true as well.
Can it be that difficult to just state the facts about the housing industry? Does the consumer have to continually hear these types of messages over and over again? Seriously…wouldn’t their be a whole lot more faith in the market if the consumer could actually rely on what came out of the mouths of the likes of Lawrence Yun and Dick Gaylord and the rest of the cronies at the National Association of Realtors?
If most real estate agents are willing to just lie down and let their professional ship be driven into iceberg after iceberg is there no wonder that so many are finally jumping ship?
I can hear it already..I’m bashing Realtors again. Really? I think Glenn Beck and guys like him do a good enough job without needing me to add fuel to the fire. I just have to wonder when it’s going to end and when the trusted membership of the NAR simply revolts and tosses these guys out on their collective rear ends!
Maybe then real estate agents won’t be looking to dogcatchers as their inspiration of integrity and consumer appreciation. No insult intended to dogcatchers intended.
I agree thank you
There are so many dynamics here. The leadership of the NAR tends to be successful agents from the older traditional models of real estate. As such the NAR has been slow to evolve and morph with the times.
In my MLS, where NAR membership is a choice not a requirement for MLS use, I think about 50% belong to the NAR by choice. Can you imagine if the associations lost 50% of their income? They wouldn’t have had enough money to run that bad “it’s a good time to buy campaign.”
I am not a member of the NAR because I have a choice, but the sad thing is that they really do offer some GREAT things. I decided to not renew in 2008 due to all of the economic forecasts and other crap. I didn’t want to be associated with that. But as a previous member, the attorney/agent meetings every month were so helpful, and the training offered was really good. It’s sad that many of the good things the organization can offer are just so overshadowed by all the other junk.
I can imagine how agents feel that don’t have a choice like I did to just pull the plug and choose not to associate.
I watched the glen beck video, he is certainly right on some points. But I think he is just as bad as the people he mocks. Then my favorite is don’t trust info from people making money from it. I think you should be prudent and wise in choosing someone to work with.
He mocks the NAR and he can’t pronounce Realtor correctly. I personally think any national real estate statement is the biggest waste of time and band width. You want to know about my market I am an expert. We have some areas in the South end of the county that are really hurting. They are the higher price spec homes. Then we have areas in the central west side of the county that is pretty hot, homes selling in 30-45 days. I don’t like to use averages in my county let alone in the US.
So I am going to do a weather forecast for you.
The temperature in the US is 66 Degrees. That’s right 66 degrees. Then you ask how can that be? I took the average temperature from 14 cities in the US from Maine to Miami, Alaska to Hawaii and other places North and South in between.
This was approx 7:15 AM Mountain Time. The lowest I found was 44 and the highest 81.
I realize you think it is silly to have a national temperature I agree.
Rob when i hear comments like yours I have to step back and think….my initial reaction has been to take a realtor to task for being ignorant.
I guess I am mellowing..I won’t do that here. Rather I want you to contemplate something.
Your message, the NAR message and the tired “real estate is local” mantra is not and will NEVER work.
What you proffer as a response is typical realtor fodder. It is time that real estate agents stop talking to each other and realize that Glen Beck wasn’t talking to you…he was talking to the consumer.
The same old rhetoric from realtors might make another realtor feel better but the rhetoric falls upon deaf ears in regards to the consumer.
If I were a consumer reading what you wrote vs. seeing what Beck said…who do you think I would believe? A realtor from Utah who responds with silly analogies…or a media host who shows a lot more fact than rhetoric?
Easy one…I believe the one who can give me more fact.
You want to make Beck seem ill=prepared and erroneous…feel free to drop as much documented rebuttle here as you wish. I am sure the consumers who read this will be able to to dsicern what it is that is more substantive and meaningful.
Bottom line..realtors need to stop responding with nutso mantras and give the consumer hard fact.
I didn’t disagree I just don’t use broad strokes even in my own county. I am not disagreeing the real estate market has some major issues. However my market is nothing like glen beck reported so it is hard to listen to broad strokes.
We (Salt Lake County) have a strong job market and because of that we have immigration. Our demographics create an endless supply of first time home buyers, which keeps fueling the second time buyer. Our top end is getting pricing pressure from over building and too much inventory. We had all the mindless speculating and loan fraud and … I would love to clean it up too.
We have two sets of pressures in individual zip codes.
If you are in my market I will give you straight facts and show you trends and employment data so you can make an informed decision.
I do not sugar coat the facts. I also don’t try to give national real estate data because averaging that much information doesn’t make sense in real estate.
I also know that over 2/3rds of all the agents in my state got their license in the last five years.
I am not reporting with the NAR I am reporting on my local market.
So why real estate is local in nature not relevant?
->>>It is time that real estate agents stop talking to each other and realize that __________ wasn’t talking to you…he was talking to the consumer<<<-
Just fill in the blank…
Great post Barry,
We were on a small trip last week to Pinehurst for a golf outing and decided to stop at this small place for lunch … the tv was on, and before we sat down the 20 of the 25 patrons started laughing, obviously we were interested on the “why” part of it (I thought I had something on my shirt).
The closest table remarked about the tv commercial and how amusing it was – “the NAR commercial”.
It’s amazing, 20 different people from 5 different states having the same reaction to the same commercial.
Whether Glen Beck pronounces “Realtor” correctly is a moot point .. consumers are listening to him and a vast armada of folks like him — and they’re tuning Realtors out.
Showing bonifide facts is what it’s all about today, not rolling our eyes and making another NAR statement.
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My market does not reflect his stats. What can I say?
To argue over which talking head is more or less correct is not my intent.
I just don’t agree with national reporting on real estate. In the same I don’t agree with reporting on my county as a whole.
I never agreed with NAR, I think they are as guilty of Beck for trying to report nationally. Personally I would rather the NAR work on helping agents to get group health care.
CRay’s comment is exactly what I was referring to.
Rob, just because YOU don’t agree and other REALTORS don’t agree does not matter. What matters is what voice do you have to state information to the contrary, and how are you disseminating this information to a general public that thinks otherwise?
Cigarette smoking causes cancer. Does not matter if you are in Toledo or Tallahassee..althought the incidence thereof in either city may not be necessarily reflective of the trend nationally. Still does not discountt he fact that cigarettes are harmful.
You want to combat the Beck’s of the world, challenge he and others on your blog with hard facts that you can back up?
Then it won’t matter what guys like Beck say…since your market will get their information from a local , credible, source.
That being the case, since your market is different, what does it matter what Beck says if real estate is local?
If it is not representative of what’s going on in your market then don’t worry about it. I would more worry what the Salt lake Tribune is saying rather than Glenn Beck.
In a recent story they ran regarding YOUR market, they said:
that buyers “now must cope with a downturn that has become more pronounced this summer…and the broader middle part of the Salt Lake Valley, where median selling prices and sales the various ZIP codes were down significantly in the second quarter, compared with the same period last year…”
So was Glenn Beck that far off or were you needing things to be even more local..as per say a specific neighborhood?
It’s easy to deny what the media says to suit one’s opinion and beliefe but it’s another just to simply ignore fact for the benefit of hoping no one notices.
This malaise is getting worse and today’s news is even more fuel for the fire for the continuing decline of the housing market.
If realtors truly want to survive (forget succeed)..if they want to survive, they must IMMEDIATELY acknowledge and accept what is truly going on and make the necessary steps to give the consumer a reason to come back.
->>>If realtors truly want to survive (forget succeed)..if they want to survive, they must IMMEDIATELY acknowledge and accept what is truly going on and make the necessary steps to give the consumer a reason to come back..<<<-
That pretty much puts everything in a nutshell… forget the word succeed, we better be looking for ways survive.
All do respect Rob, but isn’t Salt Lake County a microcosm of a microcosm in today’s real estate market.? … what about Orlando, Atlanta, Sacramento, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Boston and everything in between.?
Last night my partner and I were looking at home values on Trulia and we spun off and started to read some of the posts on their “Voices rag”, it’s frightening … it’s nothing more than one Realtor after another bashing every single buyer and seller that’s there asking for information … the consumers are there to get updated information, not getting throttled with abusive language.
Those could be my future clients, they could be your future clients, but certainly not now … it gets back to: “if they want to survive, they must IMMEDIATELY acknowledge and accept what is truly going on and make the necessary steps to give the consumer a reason to come back…”
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