One, Two, Three...PULL

Fox Business article on how tearing off the band aid is the best route for the housing market. Haven't we heard this here on this site, and from Kirk Nace for several years now? Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Fox Business article. http://briansullivan.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2011/03/30/rip-housing-band-aid-dump-all-foreclosures-market

Never own a home???

We just saw this posted on Yahoo Finance, a site with huge viewership from prospective buyers, how will this impact future demand? We asked Kirk Nace for his take, Nace said "Altucher is considered extreme by many and yet I personally find his perspective and views on housing generally more CONSERVATIVE than my own. I saw the interview and really have no significant disagreements with his general premise. The National Associations of Realtors, and a few other self serving groups have long promoted home ownership as 'The American Dream.' It's not a dream, its a nightmare and even during the best of times, residential real estate in the US basically keeps pace with inflation, it's no great investment. We have been working with The RESULTS Group on a program entitled 'Live for Free Forever' wherein we take the reality of today's US Housing market and show people how, generally within 3 to 7 years, they can create a situation wherein they are in fact never again dipping into their own pockets to pay for housing. This concept is employed by only the sharpest of all potential buyers, for most home ownership is simply an albatross they have been brainwashed into carrying around their necks."

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Yahoo Finance article.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/why-i-am-never-going-to-own-a-home-again-536051.html

New homes a bad deal???

Does anyone else recall Kirk Nace telling us that new construction would falter as the margin between new and used became greater and that only long after we stop creating new supply will the enormous existing oversupply be used up, after which the US Housing market could find it's natural bottom? Looks like we are slowly and painfully moving in that direction.

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Yahoo Finance article.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-homes-are-becoming-a-bad-apf-507780796.html?x=0

Well done piece on supply and demand in housing market.

We asked Kirk Nace, the man who for the past decade seems to have had a crystal clear crystal ball when it comes to the US Housing market. "This and similar articles seem to be finally touching on the tip of the iceberg. While it's more honest and accurate than anything we see coming out of NAR or DC it still paints an overly optimistic picture of demand returning and supply not continuing to grow drastically. Hopefully, we will see more of this type of reporting so that home owners don't continue to suffer with faulty expectations and can instead make decisions to end their bleeding."

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire CNBC article.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42067825/

Does ANYONE in real estate think?

February 21, 2011–One of the nation’s largest real estate operations reported today at its national convention that it ended 2010 with 79,315 associates, 701 market centers (offices) . . . . . .since the real estate market’s sharp downturn in 2005, the company has grown 30 percent in agents, 40 percent in market centers, 21 percent in closed units and 11 percent in closed GCI.

The above is taken directly from the website of one of the largest real estate companies in the country. This press release was published intentionally by the leadership of one of the nation’s larger, more successful and relatively speaking better, real estate companies. Let’s take a look at what they are so proud of:

30% more agents, great growth can be wonderful!

40% more offices – why does an increase of 30% in people require 40% more offices? Doesn’t this speak to inefficiency in expansion and unnecessary overhead expense?

21% more closed units – so 30% increase in agents and only 21% more business? Doesn’t this tell us that the per agent production is dropping? Should we be proud of the fact that our agents are on average getting worse and producing less?

11% more closed GCI – this is the Gross Commission Income. According to this company's own report, they have increased the people who split up the income by 30% but only increased the income by 11% - congratulations you are now getting an even smaller piece of the pie!

My intention is to not pick on this particular company, but to instead point out how rare it is for people in and around the real estate field to actually stop and think. To allow those thoughts to turn into ideas and for those ideas to then create meaningful changes.
The company highlighted above obviously believes that more offices and more agents are important. Do you think the public would prefer that someone focus on creating more competent, more professional agents, and quite possibly fewer of them?

Since its inception The RESULTS Group has focused on assisting a select few in becoming more skilled, more competent, more professional and better able to truly serve their clients. There is no fluff, no warm and fuzzy, no rah rah, just a commitment to create more competency. What if a company as large and influential as the one noted above adopted this approach?

Want to know the truly ironic part? The company above promotes itself as a training and education based company and yet according to their own numbers, their agents are doing less and less business in an environment where more and more buyers and sellers are desperately seeking the help of competent professionals.

Is there a place for thinking in the real estate field?

A hard look at US Housing Market Supply and Demand

Click on the title above or the link below to review the entire Minyanville article.

http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/housing-market-real-estate-census-bereau/3/1/2011/id/33081