Business: Realtors, it's time to appraise yourselves

Just when you start to feel for Realtors' plight during these crumb-scrounging times in the housing business, you happen upon a couple of sympathy-squashing stories about rampant greed in the profession.

Case 1: Pinellas County property records disclosed a big-shot Clearwater Realtor who helped jack up property values all across the waterfront. He pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in murky deals, then let the homes slide into foreclosure. To give you a sense of the flimflam potential, at least one of his properties is selling for a third of what it sold for two years ago.

Case 2: In a scene reminiscent of a shakedown, Realtors are trying to dupe desperate condominium owners into paying them double commissions. They'll take your listing, but you have to give them 10 percent for their trouble. I was glad to hear one would-be target offered the Realtor the one-finger salute.

These manipulators shouldn't define a whole profession. Most Realtors try to make an honest buck. And it's a rotten time to sell houses. With home sales down nearly 60 percent since the 2005 peak, the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors lost 1,200 members this month when it came time to renew their affiliation.

The federal government is pursuing an antitrust lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors for essentially running a price-fixing cartel. The association's lock on the Multiple Listing Service, the most popular database of homes for sales, smacks of a monopoly.

The Internet lets more buyers and sellers bypass agents. One of the latest is called Pad4Pad. As the Web site's founder described it: "You buy mine and I will buy yours." Of course, bartering doesn't command 6 percent commissions.

Most Realtors display an endearing optimism. Paychecks are slim, but you'd think most just sold Eddie DeBartolo's mansion to Donald Trump.

Here's hoping for a self-critique of a business that, through a minority of bad actors, conspired to bring about the current turmoil. Blaming reckless mortgage bankers and property speculators gets you only so far.

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Comments on this article

by Jill	03/08/08 01:31 PM
Reporters are just that, REPORTERS. Experts are experts: Experts write for specialized journals and they write books. Most journalists, while college educated, are NOT specialists or experts!

by Tom	03/01/08 03:28 PM
Is any part of this story TRUE? Fiction goes in a book do not pretend to be a reporter. Articles should be written by reporters who understand the Business they are writing about or do their research. Many Lic. Real Estate Agents are not Realtors,etc

by Rent'nToTheEnd	03/01/08 01:14 PM
Never need a realtor show show me how the potty lid goes up and down or how the front door works.

by John	03/01/08 12:25 PM
Bad doctor or system? a few bad doctors Bad lawyers or system? a few bad lawyers Bad Realtors or system? bad system Bad Mtg Brkrs or system? bad system Speculators and fraudsters read thru and gamed the bad systems in RE & MTG. Realtor/Mtg Brkr

by NMC	03/01/08 11:07 AM
Wow, just wow. Blame everyone else besides yourselves. There are many checks and balances in place, but people don't use them. They want to be told they can afford something they know they can't. Extra taxes, etc, just wow, so much bitterness

by applejack	03/01/08 10:50 AM
Lots of good feedback and release of hostility in a bad market. I would encourage all Realtors to advertise elsewhere for a few months.

by Beth	03/01/08 09:52 AM
The bottom line is YOU sign the papers, YOU know how much money You make, YOU are responsible for YOUR decisions. If YOU make a good decision YOU brag about who helped YOU, when YOU make a bad decision YOU blame it on some one else.

by Candi	02/29/08 09:44 PM
I sold the 2 home's for just what I payed sold them myself one in 27 day's and the other was sold in not a week. I sold them after only 6 year's. Alway's sell your own home. Don't trust all realtor"s some are crook's. You can save alot of money SOLD

by Candi	02/29/08 09:39 PM
I have been saying this for a few year's know. I had boughten 2 home's for cash back in 1986 for 50,000 it sold for 149,000 4 years ago. Had a new one built for 62,900 in 1992 and it sold last year for 128,000 that is sure a mark up. not me! crook

by Bill	02/29/08 08:12 PM
I hope the large real estate companies that buy full page ads from your paper stop advertising for a week or two. You obviously had a bad experience. Seek counciing.

by Perry	02/29/08 06:30 PM
The State of FLorida which will grant a license to anyone who can sit through only 60 hours of class time and pass a multiple choice test that took me less than an hour. I have been a pro. realtor for 20 years and have seen part timers come & go.

by Jo	02/29/08 05:20 PM
Bought my 1st home at 30, sold it bought 2nd home at 40, sold it bought my 3rd home-paid cash. All in SanFran a much hotter market than this ever was. All with the help of a RE Agent and my common sense. I would never do a purchase without an agent.

by Tammy	02/29/08 03:30 PM
My brother is a former agent, he attempted to get me to by a house more expensive than I could afford, I didn't take the bait as I had already calculated the price I could afford. Our mother was not as lucky, he took his money and ran.

by kevin	02/29/08 03:17 PM
Your vote on admendment 1 supported the realators. Why did the times wait to run this story?

by jimmy	02/29/08 02:48 PM
Maybe this will get rid of all the part time housewife realtors that are in it for a quick buck.

by Phil	02/29/08 02:30 PM
Plenty of blame to around. Can you spell "Greed" and "Stupidity"? Let's recall the famous words of Pogo. I work in Car Sales, and we run a highly professional, honest business. I'd love to be treated as professionally when I'm the customer.

by jimbo	02/29/08 01:56 PM
Mr. Thorner is certainly on the right track. I witnessed many brand new listing licensees jacking the prices up and up. They were all working on the greater fool theory. Buyers can protect themselves by hiring an exclusive buyer agent www.naeba.org

by mikey	02/29/08 01:44 PM
James, why don't you name these individuals instead of letting all the consumers think that this person is someone else. If your going to state these things, don't smear the whole profession

by Jeff	02/29/08 01:08 PM
Why the need to find someone to blame? Willing buyers bought from willing sellers. Realtors facilitated, assisted by loosened lending standards at banks. Buyers stuck with homes they can't flip or mortgages unpaid have only themselves to blame.

by Jonathan	02/29/08 12:58 PM
Realtors are worse than used car dealers. They are going the way of the travel agent...they can be replaced by the internet and offer little value. All they do is list on MLS and then beg for their commission immediately post-sale.

by kitty	02/29/08 12:25 PM
When my husband retired from the military - he didn't even have a job - and realtors were telling us we could afford more than double the home price we were comfortable with - and OUR assumptions were based on hubby getting a job!

by Tom	02/29/08 12:23 PM
The NAR is now claiming that 75% of the buyers in this country are being represented by a buyers agent. Unfortunatly most of thes buyers agents work for the same brokerage which has the home listed. Can you say conflick of interest or Dual Agency?

by Virginia	02/29/08 11:57 AM
Your dislike of Realtors screams out in this article, and it is your right to dislike anyone you choose. However, you need to get your facts straight regarding the MLS. Ever heard of Realtor.com? Available to everyone & anyone, paid for by Realtors!

by Dee	02/29/08 11:28 AM
Realtors are thieves and they are getting what they deserve. They lie to you about the value of your house to get the listing and when it doesn't sell, they tell you that the asking price is too much. It's the price they tole you in the first place

by Dave	02/29/08 11:05 AM
I sold my condno in June 03 Madeiria bch i wanted to list it For $375,000 but the Real Estate agent said you have to LIST it at $399,900 sold for $380,000 I could buy it back ???

by Helen	02/29/08 10:35 AM
Well, the middle finger salute to you too James Thorner. Greed by the mortgage bankers and speculators are the cause of the problem. And, you are mixing your stories ....

by JoeF	02/29/08 10:21 AM
Start, by making realtors pay a sales tax on their commissions, not the buyer or the seller. Put a State cap on all realtor commissions at 3%. Make it law, that a realtor nor his firm/company can serve as the realtor/s for the same property. Cry, now

by David	02/29/08 10:12 AM
Someone on CNBC just this morning compared realtors and car salesman. Basically he said they are one in the same.

by Jeff	02/29/08 10:07 AM
Mr. Thorner, is the media totally righteous? You are way off the mark. The Realtors I know are true professionals and love to help people. My peers have built wheel chair ramps, painted homes & removed tree limbs free of charge for their clients.

by captn obvious	02/29/08 09:38 AM
The fact that most realtors are snobby, uneducated, and have a huge lack of professional ethics is what is undermining the real estate "profession" but hey they have to pay for those coach purses someway right?

by Larry	02/29/08 08:56 AM
In case you forgot: Steve LaBrake was a licenced real estate broker, and a general building contractor too! I'm surprised he wasn't a member of the Florida Bar... Realtors are Ok... compared to life insurance and used car salesmen...

by Steve	02/29/08 08:50 AM
If you are of average intelligence, just bypass the Realtor and use a discount flat listing service, I have 3 times now. Most of them are not worth the bother and you can get to MLS without them. Spend $1,000 and use an attorney for the closing.

by kc	02/29/08 07:06 AM
i'm a 6yr realtor/broker in Ga and now florida to make some extra money - help people buy "good deals". that's all i do...and am always amazed at the success of listing agents who basicaly lie, cheat and steal money - are well trained (scripts) to do

by Joe	02/29/08 07:05 AM
Time for SPTs to appraise itself-what's with popSmarts side banner ad on this webpage with blond girls making out in movie. #1 site for college girls advertising FunSara87 & HotPnkLvr in lesbian liplock-1000's of SEXY New Profiles Everyday! SPT=Porn!

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Realtors, it's time to appraise yourselves