Comments on: On Buyers Suing Agents

By: Breaking News: Ummel v. Little - Agent Prevails | The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:49:14 +0000

[...] Mike Little make some mistakes? Likely. Could they have been prevented? Absolutely in my opinion. I wrote about why I wasn’t overly concerned when the case first came to light, and I’ll stand by that post. I suspect Mr. Little has changed some of his practices, and I [...]

By: Charleston Real Estate Blog : The all-Ummel Odysseus Medals, January 28

Charleston Real Estate Blog : The all-Ummel Odysseus Medals, January 28 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:08:40 +0000

[...] Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy chimes in and picks up the Black Pearl with his post, “On Buyers Suing Agents”.Last, but not least, the magnificent Brian Brady wins the People’s Choice for his clever [...]

By: Athol Kay

Athol Kay — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:33:27 +0000

Agree Jonathan. Though unfortunately it’s the general public perception.

By: Jonathan Dalton

Jonathan Dalton — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:35:46 +0000

> Let’s not forget that from NAR down every realtor and their image softening dog was saying that property values were going to go up, up and then up in a historic expansion of value that wouldn’t go down.

You apparently don’t know either me or my image-softening dog very well. Not EVERY realtor was spewing such garbage.

By: Austin Real Estate Guy

Austin Real Estate Guy — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:10:31 +0000

I wish I could say I was surpised in hearing about this suit. I also am pretty disappointed in the “nut job” comment. That is just one more thing to make agents look like sleaz bags. Image has always been a problem and we don’t need guys like that in the business.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:48:21 +0000

Why the huge decline?? Why didn’t someone in authority (government) take a look at the new builders that were jacking up prices by the thousands every week? Why were we told that sub-prime mortgages were the best mortgages? Why should we believe what comes out of the mouths of mortgage brokes? We are not all in the know. Thank you Athol for getting my point. I live in Queen Creek - Pinal County. We were booming out here and the promises were heard from realtors and new builds were high. I like my community and someday when we are more developed in commercial it will be great but I’m not young and I don’t have the time to recoup. I pray to God I don’t have to walk away from home like so many are doing.

By: Shailesh

Shailesh — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:20:58 +0000

To piggyback on Athol, I had posted an article in AR last fall regarding a potential borrower who had contacted me to refinance or seek advice on whether to sell his house if he couldn’t lower his payment. He was very upset that his house was losing value and he felt the agent involved in the transaction didn’t help him understand everything he wanted to know. He said he felt rushed when he bought in June of 2006. In my AR post I simply wrote what this borrower had said to me and asked pretty much the same thing Athol did “what do agents mean when they say to their buyers that its a good time to buy, do they back up the statement with significant factual points or just repeat what they are told?” I felt it was a legitimate question for any professional to be able to answer in their own words - so to speak.

My post was lynched by agents all across the country. I was called an “agent hater” and they couldn’t beleive “why any agent would ever do business with me”. I’m not much of a person for that kind of public slaying so I deleted my post and haven’t posted a relevant article in AR since.

Watching the video on MSNBC (Jay has a more recent post with a video link), I was reminded of the borrower who contacted me back in August last year. Marty Ummel is pretty much saying most of what this potential borrower was saying back then.

So, in short, this is a real concern amongst homeowners and simply blowing it off as a “nut case” will not help. Sure lawyers will try to take advantage of the situation, but the industy does have some answering to do in this case. I hope this case comes to a managable resolution for all parties, but don’t be surprised if more people take a crack at this in the coming months.

By: Athol Kay

Athol Kay — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:16:55 +0000

Well if the 285,000 + 20,000 = 150,000 a few years later is true, a simple “oh the housing market declined” doesn’t seem to quite cover it.

The position of the NAR Chief Economist of the time was that housing was under going a historic expansion that would not decline.

By: Austin Real Estate Blog

Austin Real Estate Blog — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:28:10 +0000

I didnt realize the agent was acting in a way that hurt his case. I have always been pretty careful in my real estate transactions and never promise that property values will go up. But if someone sues 3 years later I dont know if that provides much protection. Someone is just going to be angry that their house went down in value and is looking for someone to blame. Even if I told them their house might go down in value in 3 years time they have probably forgotten what I said.

Sharon you wrote
I sure would like an explaination of how the house I bought in 2005 valued at 285,000 could now be valued at 150,000 and I put 20,000 into it. I think we were all taken for a ride by the new builders and the mortgage companies.

I understand your frustration. But the answer to your question is simple. The housing market is experiencing a huge decline. I dont understand why you are blaming your mortgage company?

I lost some money in the tech bubble. I dont blame anyone but myself. I bought the stocks. The stocks went down. And I lost money.

By: Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:27:10 +0000

Sharon - without knowing a LOT more about your home, it would be very difficult to explain. 285K to 150K is a big drop, but not completely unheard of, particularly in some of the outlying area (Maricopa and Queen Creek in particular have been hit very hard).

As for the 20K you put in, sadly the vast majority of improvements/upgrades usually add very little to the value of a home. Rarely are those things returned dollar for dollar. (Often times it’s pennies on the dollar, if anything.)

Depending on when in 2005 you bought, you may have hit the peak. Current value depends on where your home is, it’s condition (likely good as is sounds like a new build in 2005), size, size in relation to the area and more.

I’m sorry someone told you that the value of you home could only go up. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing only increases in value. Home values are cyclical. After the insane run-up in prices we saw in 2004 - 2005, home appreciation had to slow down, and it really needed to drop, difficult as that is to hear.

If you want to share more info about your home, I’d be happy to try to explain more. Feel free to email me if you want to keep it private.