This from the “I Wouldn’t Believe It If I Hadn’t Seen It” file…otherwise know as the are you friggin kidding me section. I get a lot of grief because people say I pick on Realtors too much. But when you see this kind of crap in the news, what’s one to think?
Ok, so I’m using too much of a broad stroke and of course there are some great Realtors out there (y’all satisfied?). But if I can say that, why can’t people be honest and see that there are a whole bunch of ignoramuses (is that a word?) running around with little blue “R’s” on their lapels stinking up the joint. This story underscores my obvious disdain. a handout people? Seriously? Really?
Kenneth R. Feinberg, who was recently appointed by President Barack Obama as the Independent Administrator of the Gulf Claims Facility for the $20 billion BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill compensation fund said Wednesday he’s been besieged by real estate agents and brokers, demanding that they become eligible for payments.
Feinberg said he has heard from many real estate agents and brokers about their lost income, and promised to address their concerns.
“The Realtors and real estate brokers are a major political force,” he said. “I’m hearing from them constantly. I’m not sure whether they have a valid legal claim. I’m not sure they can win if they litigate.
How sorry can you really be? Claiming money from an oil spill fund? Really? Are things that bad that you have to stoop that low? I know what I would do if I was Feinberg.
I would tell them to bring in all of the contracts that they had that didn’t close to prove that they actually lost business and please make sure when you bring in the contracts that you bring in letters and docs showing that the buyers were approved for a mortgage and you were set to close.
But you say..what about the business they might have had? Do we really want to go there? Imputing possibilities and conjecture. I can see it now. “I had a buyer all set and he changed his mind ..so pay me”.
Is there any wonder why the American public has such low regard for Realtors? C’mon, this is bad form no matter how you look at it and it scares me when Feinberg is even being forced to review the insanity of these claims solely because of the fact that the NAR is a “major political force”.
That’s an association that I would want to be a part of.
Hello Barry,
As always, you make great points and I’m glad to see that you are not afraid to state your position.
Now to play devil’s advocate; what’s so different about the realtor claiming that their livelihood has been changed because of the spill as opposed to a fisherman or a restaurateur, or a resort owner. . .
Barry Cunningham response: Well if I am a fisherman or a restauranteur or a resort owner, I would be able closely prove an impact upon my earnings. If I was a fisherman I would be able to show lots of historical data that shows how much fish I have caught both before the spill and after the spill backed up by tax returns, receipts etc.
My loss of income could be easily documented. If I owned a restaurant, I have my daily recaps. Some successful restaurants have forecasts based upon days if the week and even weather. So they would be able to show that they lost revenue because upon a historically based reference. Obviously hotels can easily do the same.
So if a Realtor can come in and do the same, then I don’t have a problem. If a Realtor can come in and say I sold this many homes each year from this date to this date and I had this many contracts pending with buyers ready to close then they would have a shot in my eye.
I would have to look closely at such a claim… but, let’s be serious, how many realtors out there can justify that they lost REAL income because of the spill? A few? Maybe. Feiberg said he was “beseiged”. Sounds like an orchestrated plan by the NAR or local boards to grab a few easy bucks.
As a virtual RE investor, I have avoided searching the GOM area because of the uncertainty of future prices there. Yes, there are opportunities if you want to take the risk, but I prefer to play this out with the scenario that the Northern states prices will rise due to continuing problems associated with the spill and people will have a preference of “other than the GOM”.
Barry Cunningham’s response: This makes you a very prudent businessman and it probably attests to your success.
So IF others have that frame of mind, (I don’t think I’m alone on this viewpoint), the whole economy of the GOM has been harmed by the oil spill. Does BP owe all GOM residents some form of compensation? Did BP intentionally circumvent established safety rules designed to protect their employees, the public and the environment?
Barry Cunningham’s response: BP will be found culpable or not culpable of not following safety rules by people who know the law, and I really don’t want to speculate on that. But to your question, I have no doubt that compensation is due many…my problem is the methodology of determining said compensation. For instance, can you tell how many properties you expected to purchase on the GOM and from what agent you were going to buy it from? Can you tell me if the homes or properties that you were interested in were listed before the spill or what owners were contemplating selling who now can’t? Can you tell me how many listings Mr. X realtor was expected to have in the future and how many of those would expire unsold or what the price would have fallen to? How about what the commission spread would be or if their would be more or less foreclosure? How many short sales that were pending would have closed?
You see in the restaurant, hotel, and fisherman examples that you brought up, the historical data can easily be analyzed. Realtors won’t have that data. They may have it on the market as a whole but not down to individual Realtor.
I purchased property in Saint Petersburg just before the spill. I have some concern that my values will decline because of the oil volcano and further issues still to come. I don’t plan on claiming anything from BP but I don’t blame someone who has a legitimate reason to.
You just underscored my sentiment. When would you be looking to sell? What will the value of the property be at that point? What would the value have been at that specific point if the spill did not occur? What impact has the spill had on St. Pete? Do you know specifically if your home has decreased in value? If so is the entire drop in value due to BP? If Not, what percent of the decrease in value is due to BP? How do you determine that? Like you said…you have a concern, but can you prove it?
That is a can of worms that will be litigated for years to come. This is only the beginning my friend!
I am quite sure that litigation is on the horizon, and maybe rightly so. You see that’s when people with their hands out like Realtors looking to make easy money will be exposed. Like Feiberg says in the article, they are going to have a hard time prevailing in that lawsuit. So I think we can see where he’s taking it.
Hi Alan,
Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your comment. Let me reply paragraph by paragraph….within your comment
Barry,
Just a bit of helpful housekeeping first;
• I’m expecting to get redirected to Mr. Feinberg’s article when I click your link real estate agents and brokers, demanding that they become eligible for payments. It instead, brings me back to this Real Estate Radio page. (Barry’s response…that’s correct and intended…just a bit of the seo sauce that we use…the link to his story was just above that…look a bit closer))
• Also, I think you mean to say that you don’t want to be associated with NAR – “That’s an association that I would want to be a part of.” (as printed at the bottom of your blog) (Barry’s response …That was intended as welll…with MUCH sarcasm…I guess I should have put NOT! at the end for literal interpretation)
So a fraudulent claimant says that they have been a victim of wrong doing by BP. Isn’t it distressing that law abiding, tax paying Americans and industries have to tolerate this type of free loader. It burdens the system and hinders legitimate claims from getting settled expediently. Isn’t it sad that one of the first things one thinks about the process is “I hope they have a system to weed out the fraud”.
The article “Kenneth R. Feinberg” at http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/f/kenneth_r_feinberg/index.html
speaks about Mr. Feinberg’s findings against the banksters;
“In 2009, Mr. Obama appointed Mr. Feinberg as the special master for executive compensation. In a report to be released on July 23, 2010, Mr. Feinberg names 17 financial companies that made questionable payouts totaling $1.58 billion immediately after accepting billions of dollars of taxpayer aid. Mr. Feinberg’s report points to companies that he says paid eye-popping amounts or used haphazard criteria for awarding bonuses, and he singled out Citigroup as the biggest offender.”
Perhaps the GOM frausters are learning by example? (Barry’s response…I would say that is entirely possible!)
Let’s just pray that this type of spill doesn’t happen again.
Barry’s response…– you and me both!!
Hi Barry,
I can’t insert into previous blogs, so I’ll just copy and paste.
brings me back to this Real Estate Radio page. (Barry’s response…that’s correct and intended…just a bit of the seo sauce that we use…the link to his story was just above that…look a bit closer))
Alan’s response: TRICKY – I LIKE IT!
I did find the article through your other link today
“That’s an association that I would want to be a part of.” (as printed at the bottom of your blog) (Barry’s response …That was intended as welll…with MUCH sarcasm…I guess I should have put NOT! at the end for literal interpretation)
Alan’s response: I thought that possible before I responded but then I asked myself; “Barry – Sarcastic? No Way – It must be a word omission”. – NOT!