Two and three years ago my old office managers (I was with another real estate agency at the time)  were spewing “there is no bubble”. The mantra was: it’s a sellers market and there is no bubble that is going to burst! As months drew on it seemed as if we were riding a never ending wave of profitable forecasts for both seller and buyer. Everybody wanted a piece of the action. Buyers felt with prices jolting upward there was value in what they were buying. Homes were selling like mad for unheard of price tags. EVERYBODY wanted IN! Sellers got greedy but so did the buyers. and the banks….The banks couldn’t get enough of the paper being written. No one was turned away from a loan. It was a feeding frenzy.

The real estate market has been described as a freight train. Slow to stop, but equally slow to bring back up to speed.

The train has left the station.

While everyone was boarding, jumping on and buying up, nobody was bothering to check the tickets. Not everyone was qualified. And I’m here to tell you everyone is to blame. The Banks first and for most by not being responsible to go by simple things like CREDIT CHECKS. Remember the crazy idea of having money to put down to buy a house, you would borrow from Uncle Louie or Grandma Fay, and in order to prove ability you needed to prove you had a real job with longevity. The buyers who, at the most simple level, never allowed the agents showing them property access to the basic information of documentation to prove their worth and ability to actually buy a property. Existing homeowners were caught up in the fact that the house they lived in was worth so much more than they originally payed they REFINANCED. They got windfall money. They went on trips, bought cars, boats or improved the property (which is what the loan was probably slated for in order to borrow in the first place) Realtors who were completely unprofessional showing properties without pre-qualifying the customer. The sellers only wanted to hear how much could the buyer pay up? And now we are here. The dust has not completely settled yet but some are seeing a bit clearly. There are still crooks in the mortgage industry. You would think not, but I still see the wool being pulled over on buyers eyes. It’s unbelievable. There are still sellers that will not see the reality of the situation. Even now with common knowledge of the economic landscape, sellers are still not listening to the market. Realtors are the professionals who have to hold the line. We have to speak with absolute truth, whether it is what the homeowner wants to hear or not. What is the point of adding more overpriced inventory to the already bloated market?

And we are seeing forecloser. People are loosing their homes.

As a buyer: There is no such thing as a free lunch. Work with a Certified Buyer Representative. Find out from that agent what TRUE MARKET VALUE is in today’s market. You can not speculate. If you are buying a house now: you should pay today’s price. You have to anticipate the property you buy will appreciate and depreciate in the future. My advice to you is buy a house to LIVE IN, and don’t think about what it will be worth two or twenty years from now. Are you going to move in two years? If you are ( It happens. I moved every 18 months to 2 years for a time period in my life) work out the right loan for the property. You will not get the house if you under bid!

As a Seller: Listen to the market.Which in turn means listen to your listing broker. Hire a professional full time reputable Realtor. Realtors have up to the minute real information that gives us the facts. We are OBJECTIVE. Don’t loose site of the fact that this is a business transaction. This is one of the real reasons where homeowners that try to sell on there own are unsuccessful.

Take advice from WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121553612650836199.html?mod=RealEstateMain_1