Urban Lindsay's Weblog

Dear buyers

My dearest, beloved buyers (and prospective buyers),

• You are not the only buyers in the world and you are certainly not the only buyers looking for a “steal”.  Of course you’re the only buyers in my world (the only ones that matter anyway), but you aren’t the only buyers in your local market looking for a  __bedroom, __bathroom, __square foot home in __neighborhood for under $__.  In fact, there are LOTS of other buyers just like you (yes, even now).  And guess what?  They’re looking for a great deal too!  Weird huh?  So . . . my advice?  When you see a house that’s priced WELL under market value and is what you’re looking for, don’t a) drag your feet or b) offer $344k less than their asking price or . . . (SHOCKING!) you won’t get the house and someone else – probably one of those other buyers I mentioned that are just like you will (they’re just like you except they’re the FUTURE you.  They’ve already seen other houses they liked & wrote offers on but missed out on them because they offered too less or took too long and someone else bought them).

• The sky is not falling.  Real estate is not going to disappear. Yes, we are in a recession, but ever since they began keeping records on real estate sales data, real estate has been a solid investment if held for THE LONG TERM. (1995: “long term” = 5-7 years  2006: “long term” = 30 days  2010: “long term” = 5-7 years)As illustrated by some economist smarter than me, you can see that if you bought a house in 1980 you’d still have gained equity since you purchased it – both from the market and from paying down your principal – despite the housing crash we’ve recently seen.  Second, real estate is real property and guess what guys???  Last I checked they weren’t planning on making any more land anytime soon. Third, it’s your home.  You live there.  People have to live in houses and people sometimes have to change houses.  I’m pretty sure that’s been going on for centuries and I kinda doubt that’s going to change anytime soon.

• You are not going to make $344 million in real estate investing just because you attended Nouveau Riche University, bought some shitty tapes and attended a Zig Ziglar motivational event. (Umm . . . hate to burst your bubble but Nouveau Riche isn’t a real university.  Nice try. You’d be better off spending your money at the local community college.  Oh – and Zig Ziglar can be counted on for sales secrets circa 1898 when he was last selling). If you still think you’re going to make 34% return on your investment after buying a “beater” and flipping it 24 days later you’re in worse shape than I thought.

• Be patient on REO’s and short sales. Banks don’t “owe” you anything.  Quite frankly, they don’t give a damn about this one individual property that might be your future home (when they have 344 million others throughout the US that are either in the short-sale process or have been foreclosed on).  You and your American home ownership dream are not at the top of their priority list.  Remember that “foreclosure crisis” thing everyone keeps talking about??  The people at the bank that review your offers are just average American citizens overworked for insufficient pay who hate their jobs and their boss (the bank) as much as you do.

• I don’t know if we’re at the bottom of the market and neither do you. If I knew when the ABSOLUTE bottom was I’d be richer than Warren Buffett and I’d likely be doing something besides selling homes to my clients (Like drinking martinis on my yacht in the Mediterranean that was paid for by buying up properties for myself at the bottom of the market and dumping them on idiots at the peak) and if you knew when the bottom was then I doubt you’d have hired me to help you look for a 5 bedroom, 3 bath, fixer upper in the nicest neighborhood in town for $10.

Whew.  Now who’s ready to go house shopping?

Lots of love,
Your favorite Realtor: Urban Lindsay

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