An Open Letter to Frank Gomez
October 14, 2008
Post Tags: economic times , real estate industry , transparency in real estate
Frank Gomez left a comment on Sunday’s post Living with Imperfections If you didn’t see it here it is for a quick review.
“Dave, I certainly get your drift. However, sometimes–like now–it is just a very good time to sit back and try to relax and see where things are headed. I am very sorry that you and many others are in an industry that is currently in a severe slump, but it is not our responsibility to buy (or try to sell) homes in this environment.
While there may never be the perfect time to sell or buy a home there is also a time not to consider it. And we are in those times. I know you in the RE industry can only make a living if people buy and sell real estate, but now is NOT a good time to buy. Unfortunately for your industry the majority of us understand that if there ever is a bounce upward that it will be a long time in coming.
Your industry has cried wolf too many times and we just ain’t buying any longer (”this is the bottom”, “now is the time to buy”, “buy or be priced out”, “you need the tax deduction”, “real estate always goes up”, “people from other parts of the country or world will buy”). The platitudes are no longer effective!”
I asked Frank to check back today and I would respond.
Frank,
I’m not sure how you found this blog or post in the first place. It is an odd title and not a real estate related post. Again, I would like to thank you for your comment, It is easy for us to loose site of how many people view the real estate industry and those of us that work in it and often with good reason. I’m the son of a great depression kid. I grew up hearing about hard times and all those stories about walking to school in the snow and nothing to eat but popcorn and navy beans on Sunday nights.
During difficult economic times when people are afraid they might loose their jobs and fear becomes the driving force in decision making we are tempted to freeze up, pull back and withdraw. Living with Imperfections was written as much for myself as others to say, we don’t have to be rendered powerless to make decision or take action in our lives because there is bad economic news. We can still make a difference by the things we do with and for each other. There is no perfect time to help a neighbor, or greet others with a smile, to open a door for someone or say “Good Morning”. These little things are opportunities we have everyday to stand against the fear. The current economic factors we have no control over. But we do have control over our attitudes and decisions we make. We can chose to be a positive influence in the lives of others we encounter everyday.
This blog is far from being a sell sell sell always have a real estate related analogy or point. I write to present a balance look at life in Tucson and our real estate market.
There is a movement inside the real estate community itself away from the hard sell always pushing people to buy buy buy. A strong segment of this movement for transparency and focus on service rather than sales seems to have made its way into the Real Estate Blogging community. Barbara and I are very much a part of this movement. If you aren’t working in the Real Estate industry you probably wouldn’t even know the movement existed.
I try very hard to keep the content interesting, informative and educational. While we work in the Tucson Real Estate market our focus isn’t on selling real estate. I have owned and sold 6 homes in my lifetime. For more than thirty years I was in full time ministry and my focus was on my family with three children and the congregations we served. Every time we bought or sold a home it was without consideration of the economy. Our focus in life didn’t involve time to think about real estate. We were unaware of what the economy was like or whether it was a good time to buy or sell a house. Our focus was on moving where we had to move to do what came next in our lives and the lives our our children. We believe even today there are many people just like us out there who could use good information and help navigating the real estate market and decisions they will be making in buying or selling a house which will become their home.
Here goes with a point by point breakdown of your comment.
I certainly get your drift. However, sometimes–like now–it is just a very good time to sit back and try to relax and see where things are headed. I am very sorry that you and many others are in an industry that is currently in a severe slump, but it is not our responsibility to buy (or try to sell) homes in this environment.
While there may never be the perfect time to sell or buy a home there is also a time not to consider it. And we are in those times. I know you in the RE industry can only make a living if people buy and sell real estate, but now is NOT a good time to buy. Unfortunately for your industry the majority of us understand that if there ever is a bounce upward that it will be a long time in coming.
There are many people out there even today just like me. They don’t know about real estate or prices. They don’t know if they have been up or down, if it is a good time to buy or to wait. If their job has changed, they parents are sick and they have to move to be closer to them or the other way around they have to move their parents to be closer to them. Some are moving because of a carrier opportunity to good to pass up. Others are moving because they need a job and if that job is half way around the country they will move. Military personnel get reassigned and they need or want to buy a house for their family. There are so many individual and family economies going on all the time and those individual economies often dictate when someone buys or sells a house. These are the families we work very hard to provide the information they need to make good decisions which will not ruin or hinder their personal economy.
As for now being a severe slump, it is true, in some parts of the country the real estate markets are hurting and there are individual agents leaving the industry all the time. It is a tough time to be in Real Estate. Here in Tucson we are fortunate to have weathered the slump better than most local economies. And the de-inflation our market in 2007 and most of this year is a good thing for the stability of our market.
You wouldn’t believe how many people we have worked with in the past year talking them out of listing their home. We also work very hard to insure our clients don’t buy more house than they can afford. I’m sure this is a part of working in Real Estate you never hear about. Others have fallen in the categories mentioned above. It wasn’t so much a matter of choice to buy or sell as it was necessity.
“Your industry has cried wolf too many times and we just ain’t buying any longer (”this is the bottom”, “now is the time to buy”, “buy or be priced out”, “you need the tax deduction”, “real estate always goes up”, “people from other parts of the country or world will buy”). The platitudes are no longer effective!”
Frank,
I have a list of phrases I never use and work hard not to even infer them. You got a lot of them on that list. I cringe every time I read:
- Now is the time to buy (usually stated) Now is a Great Time to BUY
- This is the bottom prices are going up you better BUY
- BUY or be priced out of the market
- For All Your Real Estate Needs (one of my personal favorites)
I hope those platitudes never worked. As I mentioned above there is a movement within the industry to move away from those who use the hard sell crying wolf approach to the industry. You certainly nailed the big ones and when I read any of them I move on quickly anyone spewing forth that ilk without regard for individual circumstances are throwing up a big red flag. I don’t appreciate being “SOLD” and we won’t do it to others.
We would never recommend anyone buy or sell a house because we needed them to buy or sell a house. We don’t work in real estate to move a house and never see those clients again. We want to have the kind of relationship with our clients that they will always call us and refer others to us because they know we work hard for them. This is part of our business model and philosophy, we aren’t interested in just selling real estate and moving on to the next “sucker”. We want to build trust with individuals and families and we want to sleep at night knowing we have helped people navigate what can be a difficult transaction in life. We like helping people find a new home, or sell the one they have as they move on to the next chapter in their lives.
This post has grown way too long, so I’ll close with this final thought which I should probably save for a post of it’s own.
Valentines Day is never a good time to buy Roses. You can pay up to $50 or more for a dozen roses on Valentines Day. Any other time they are half that price or less. But I know there are some individual circumstances where not buying roses on Valentines Day will cost more than Fifty dollars. It all depends on individual circumstances.
Thanks again Frank for your comment and your follow up comment on yesterday’s post. Thanks for providing me the to opportunity to again focus on why Barbara and I work in real estate here in Tucson. We really should get together for a cup of coffee some time soon. Have a Great Week.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Dave:
What a great read you gave me this morning as I took my three pound chihuahua for his daily four mile walk with me. (Actually, he only walks about half a mile and I carry him the rest of the way in one hand while I hold what I am reading in the other).
It’s so obvious that if most Americans had your ethics and integrity we would not be in our current state of crisis. People forgot some of the basic laws of the Universe, such as “There is no such thing as a free lunch”, “Don’t spend more than you make”, “If you borrow make certain you can pay it back”. Now our country is left to pick up the economic ruins of a society that had somehow lost its “self-control” chip.
One way to look at all of this is that if we can get back to what made our country great we should be fine in a few years. This means getting back to Benjamin Franklin’s tenets of hard work, saving and industriousness.
As to your offer to buy me a cup of coffee, I will do you one better. What about we meet sometime at a nice wine bar and I buy you a glass or two of fine wine. I commute back-and-forth between California, where I work, and Tucson, where I live with my family and that three pounds of terror. So, maybe we can do it in the next couple of weeks. My best.
Frank.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I love happy endings!
The real estate market follows cycles, history beats us over the head with this concept time after time. IMHO, right now is a wonderful opportunity to purchase real estate, it allows us to take the time to find the right investment/dream home while purchasing at much lower prices! The positive spin on this blog reminds us of this..
October 14th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Brian,
You crack me up. I love happy endings too
Thanks for dropping by, hope you are lurking here often.
I do try and stay positive, I hope it isn’t spin, LOL I don’t want to make anyone dizzy.