I saw a Youtube video, a young guy ranting and raving about his real estate experience.  Mostly he was badgering the buyer agent, WHOM HE DID NOT PAY A DIME.  He ranted about how the agent called to let him know a good home had just come on the market, and he rudely replied that, “NO I can’t go look at the house, I HAVE A JOB!”  Not realizing that the agent WHOM HE DID NOT PAY A DIME also has one that doesn’t end at 5 pm nor start at 8 am.  The real estate agent, WHOM HE DID NOT PAY A DIME, works 24/7, often for brats who don’t have a clue what real estate agents do, how hard we work, how much we try to satisfy the needs of buyers who don’t appreciate us, or even realize that THEY DON’T PAY  US A DIME.

He further ranted that when he DID decide to stoop to look at the house, the agent, WHOM HE DID NOT PAY A DIME, told him the house was under contract.  Well I WONDER how many times the buyer agent told this child that the market is HOT and there’s no time to goof around. You snooze, you lose.  If YOU have on your big boy panties and think you’re tough enough to buy a house, then you need to do what it takes to pull it off.  Whining does no good to anyone.

Then, the spoiled brad made fun of the buyer agent, WHOM HE DID NOT PAY A DIME, because he got a GIFT, from someone he disrespected, made fun of and…youuuu guessed it…DID NOT PAY A DIME.

So listen up: That agent did not HAVE to give you squat.  The SELLER paid her salary, you DID NOT PAY A DIME.  Furthermore, that big salary you think she got?  Pay ATTENTION NOW, that commission amount is for BOTH COMPANIES.  How many times can I say this?  COMPANIES.  The agents, who drive you around, keep watch for your special needs, wake up at the crack of dawn to check the market, callS you to find out if you’re in the MOOD to look at a house, takes care of all of the details, keeps you informed, spends her/his money to take care of you, gets NOT ONE DIME from you.  And the commission you are jealous about? That goes to the COMPANIES, paid by the SELLER, not you.  Your agent, whom  you did not deserve, based on your own behavior preserved on video made much much less than your small brain can imagine.

Did YOU thank her?  Did YOU GIVE HER A THANK YOU GIFT?  No, you didn’t.  Do do me a favor.  Sit down and shut up.

And answer this for me?  1) Whooooo pays commissions?  2)Whoooo gets the commissions?  That’s right 1) not you; 2) THE COMPANIES.

I feel better now.  It’s Sunday, and I’m off to work.  What are YOU doing?

It doesn’t seem like there’s much for buyers to celebrate in this current market, but there is a slight bit of sunlight on the horizon.  That’s in the form of builders losing some of their once captive share of buyers.  Buyers are now seeing a nearly a year of wait time before their home will be ready; so the masses are turning back to existing homes.  Further, some potential buyers of new homes are getting called into meetings with their builders, where they’re told the price of their home has gone UP, forty, fifty, eighty or more THOUSANDS of dollars.  That’s due to the screaming rise in construction materials cost…due to constraints…whether real or created.  But that’s another day’s thoughts.

Builders are a critical part of our development, our economy.  They keep the housing market moving forward and they help buyers achieve their home purchase dreams.  And they provide thousands of jobs.  But they also cannot handle the load.  Not in this market.  Not today.

Because the wait time for new homes has become so long, in part because of demand and in part due to supply chain issues, buyers are coming back to the normal market of existing homes.  I can almost hear the sighs of relief from home sellers.

Each time I show property, I hold my breath until I find a window of time available and I hope the home doesn’t sell before I get my clients to it.  It’s still a zoo out here.  I am seeing some sellers being more reasonable about pricing and expectations about up front funds, because some of them have lost out to builders in the past.  So I am seeing some sense of reasonableness about due diligence amounts and even earnest money.  Did you know that many buyers are offering zero earnest money now?  That’s because the due diligence requirements are wiping out their discretionary funds.

I find this whole due diligence thing entirely ridiculous, because that money goes back to the buyer at closing anyway; so the whole idea is set up to HOPE the buyer walks away.

Builders are holding off releasing product until they have a certain amount of construction completed, thus making the time to close shorter, but that doesn’t help the bottleneck of supply.  Why?  Because the time to build is still stalled by supply chain constraints of pieces parts of a new home.

So what is this all about?  Well, buyers are getting a SLIGHTLY more reasonable market for existing homes, and any ray of sunshine is still a ray of sunshine.

It’s hard to be a real estate agent right now, folks.