Category Archives: Public Perception
Real Estate Licensing in Virginia does not Equate Competence
You know what leads to competence? Practice.
“… the Principles of Real Estate course doesn’t talk about completing a contract“
Because … how often does a real estate agent write a contract, right? 
Note: Principles of Real Estate is the course that all new real estate licensees in the Commonwealth of Virginia must take in order to get licensed.
From the Virginia Association of Realtors’ Commonwealth Magazine -
The only true education (in anything, really) is experience. I’ve talked about this, and sat on committees (for *years* – at both national and state Realtor levels) about “real estate professionalism” … and have since resigned myself to the ineffectiveness of the political system with respect to this issue.
The only reasonable solution is an apprenticeship program.
More hours won’t solve this.
To consumers: caveat emptor as there is no viable nor valid means by which to ascertain a real estate professional’s competence online without asking another competent professional his opinion of another.
NAR’s New Ad: Hit or Miss?
It’s been a while since I’ve written about the National Association of Realtors and their sometimes mis-guided, self-serving ad campaigns* and lamentably, today is one of those days where I feel I need to say, “I’m a Realtor, but I reject their current ad campaign.”
Renters are positive contributors to society, too, and just like homeowners, some are great, some aren’t. Making renters feel bad about themselves is the best way to try to build favor for the Realtor brand. Alienating a segment of the population, many of who do aspire to be homeowners, is, in a word, stupid.
So, thanks, NAR, for the opportunity to defend myself and use you as the object of derision. I’m glad to work with clients who will be homeowners one day, and while I don’t typically work with renters, I do fins myself in the position frequently where I help them find rentals … for a year, as they are in fact, homebuyers on a delayed timeline.
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But it’s Family! (or Why to Think Twice About Hiring your Family Realtor)
“I’d love to use you as a realtor, but my brother is a Realtor in another part of the state and to not use him would not make much sense for me. It makes viewing houses a bit more inconvenient, but it’s family!” or … “She’s my sister; I have to use her!” “I didn’t need to look for representation; my uncle is a Realtor”
Could you/would you fire your aunt?
Candidly and respectfully, “he’s/she’s family” is one of the worst reasons to hire buyer representation I have heard.
Hiring someone to represent you in what is likely the largest financial transaction you’ll ever make warrants asking some questions other than, “what did you get me for Christmas last year?” (hint: here are quite a few questions to ask if you’re interviewing buyer or seller representation)
Buying and selling a home can be extremely emotional, sometimes volatile, and the process necessitates complete faith, trust and competence.
Lawrence Yun is Right (My take on the NAR’s Revisions)
“From a consumer’s perspective, only the local market information matters and there are no changes to local multiple listing service (MLS) data or local supply-and-demand balance, or to local home prices,” Yun explained. (business insider)
True. Ignore the NAR. Read local real estate analysis.
If you’re looking for insight into and analysis about the Charlottesville area real estate market, start here.
It’s Not about the NAR’s Numbers, It’s about the NAR’s Credibility
I’ve tried to write this story about the National Association of Realtors’ revisions and I can’t seem to write anything new that I or others haven’t said before.
@mortgagereports How will they help? More accurate data is good, but who trusts the NAR? My take is: national is irrelevant,local is crucial
There’s a bit more after the break, but the above sums it up.
One Way that Real Estate Agents are Like Lawyers
The New York Times notes this regarding law schools:
“The fundamental issue is that law schools are producing people who are not capable of being counselors,” says Jeffrey W. Carr, the general counsel of FMC Technologies, a Houston company that makes oil drilling equipment. “They are lawyers in the sense that they have law degrees, but they aren’t ready to be a provider of services.”
The same holds true in the real estate profession – except in Virginia, it takes a bit less than three years (try less than 100 hours of “education”) to get your real estate license. And the state-mandated real estate exam (and Broker’s exam, too) is so mind-numbingly easy and irrelevant as to be farcical.
Expertise comes with practice, time, production and learning from mistakes. More from the NYTimes:
Four Positive Signs about the Charlottesville Real Estate Market
1 – Stabilizing real estate assessments – some are legitimately up, some are legitimately down; while they are irrelevant to market value – they do affect consumer sentiment & perspective . 2 – Unemployment has declined to a two year low . ( more ) 3 – I am hearing this more and more from buyers with whom I am working: “She is in no immediate rush but she is aware that this is probably the bottom of the market so would like to capitalize on that.” … I just returned from FiberLight’s ribbon cutting ceremony at the Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, and I am very excited about what they are doing, what they plan to do and what this may mean for the Charlottesville region. More to come on how this will affect businesses, consumers and most importantly (to me at least), the Charlottesville real estate market. Continue reading
