Realtors' MLS Hides the Rancid Truth

Surprise!! MLS data are not accurate.

OK. So if real estate market conditions are local, and millions of Americans study local market housing conditions and even shop for homes on the internet at sites like Realtor.com and other MLS-linked database services, then why is the information therein so incomplete and inaccurate?

If "local" is the critical factor here for buyers and sellers alike, then why not make a concerted effort to clean up the slop?

ArrrghhhhH! When will we all stop asking such ridiculous questions!!!

Realtors declare "trusted advisor" status in their industry by fiat. Our first mistake would be to accept this preposterous claim and then understand it to have been supposedly earned sometime ago. They have NO claims to such authority. The colossal housing crash of California and the nation has thoroughly stripped realtors of any such authority.

This MLS problem really needs to be corrected. Not just because it's feeding consumers inaccurate and incomplete data. That can happen with any database. It should be corrected because of the massively incorrect inferences that can be, and are, regularly drawn from such "local" real estate market numbers.

See the excellent write up here by Dr. Housing Bubble Blog on the same subject.

Let's get it together people. First do the home work. Then you can maybe play princess in front of the mirror all you want. Declare yourselves empresses of the kingdom of ashes for all I care.

Realtor.com: 4 Homes in Lake Forest Between $400-$500K

Why is it that there are only 4 single family homes (4 bed, 2 bath, 2250 sq feet) for sale listed on Realtor.com for Lake Forest in the price range of $400K and $500K?

Anyone want to submit a theory?

Man, you gotta love the locations shown here. If I only I were a nerd for trains.

California Realtors: 2010 to be "New Normal"

Ms. Leslie Appleton-Young of the California Association of Realtors:

"I think what we're going to be doing in 2010 is building a foundation for what will be called the new normal. The recession is probably over as measured by a decline in growth, negative growth if you will. But the recovery will be contingent upon additionally likely stimulus spending and doing more to facilitate job growth because I really feel that if we don't do more direct policy initiatives aimed at putting people to work, this is going to go on for quite some time."

Not bad. For a realtor.



I'm pinching myself. Did she just say..? I'm pleased to observe a realtor in California finally displaying some measure of honesty about the situation we are all in and the uphill battle that most certainly lies before us in this state and around the nation.

California real estate appreciation, including appreciation of home values Orange County California, was based on a lie. Reckless lending practices, duplicitous sales tactics by realtors all across the state, not to mention financially inept and credulous decisions made by home buyers (homedebtors) all poisoned the water we're now swimming in together. Only now that water has become raw sewage do we understand. Ms. Appleton-Young knows and must now admit that the government is broke and it's probably going to take a very long time indeed for all of the crap to settle to the bottom, and for the stench of lies to be blown away by the ocean breeze.

The one thing I must disagree with Ms. Appleton-Young on is the call for more stimulus spending.

We DO NOT, I repeat, WE DO NOT need more American taxpayer dollars appropriated to prop up an industry that was built on lies and questionable sales practices in the first place. The price crashes all around California and Orange County are a market correction. This is not in dispute. It has been long overdue and repeatedly obstructed by the stimulus spending initiatives and political action committees funded by the CAR and NAR. Americans would benefit significantly more over the long term from a thorough housing market correction, not less of one. Stabilized markets should be our destination of choice, not the cliff hanging of the last 10 years. Of course, realtors would rather have the clocks turned back to the imbalanced market, irrationally high prices, lax lending standards, poorly informed and credulous buyers, and other craziness so that their own felt pockets could be appropriately lined with sales commissions.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't pay my state and federal income taxes to support the REIC and the financial livelihood of California realtors. As far as I'm concerned that money should be used on something far more productive than rewarding debt slavery among those least capable of ever paying back such debts.

Get a Job, Orange County

Don't look now but, uh, unemployment in Orange County California went down from 9.7% to 9.4%.

I guess this is the part where we all start to celebrate about the employment tax dollars that are going to start flowing back into state and local coffers.