Searching for a home?

I talk with a lot of professionals involved in the Real Estate industry, lenders, attorneys, home inspectors, trades people and of course other Realtors. Today I spoke with a lender about the inventory of homes that are available in the area. In my humble opinion, they are all substandard. There seems to be nobody selling a home that isn't in a state of duress. As a very wise Realtor said to me a few years ago, the market that we are facing will be intertwined with either death, divorce or transfers. I am working with several buyers who would like to purchase a home but the options that they have are dismal! Most of the properties that we are looking at are either estates, short sales or the sellers are separating.

I also spoke with a homeowner today who would like to sell their home. They had spent all of 2008 on the market and the home didn't sell. I did a brief market analysis of the similar homes that did sell and their list price was about 15% over market value all year. Where was their agent? Yes, yes, hindsight is 20-20 but I feel that as a Real Estate professional that I have a responsibility to deliver a message that reflects accurate market conditions. I won't tell my clients that they will get a price that isn't realistic given the market. It's nice to have listings, but it's nicer to have clients who repsect your integrity and ability to get a job accomplished.

One more thought for my first post; I had a buyer contact me one afternoon and the expectation seemed to be that I drop what I was doing and take up some work for them. I let them know that I had no problem helping them with their request but I wanted them to make a committment to me via a contract. I didn't ask for a lifetime committment, or even a 3 month committment, but the expectation was that I would be what seemed like infinitely available to this particular consumer yet the consumer expected that they were free to take my 'work product' and go on thier way with it. I declined to be available without some form of committment, a 10 day contract perhaps, the consumer responded by letting me know that they would 'call the next agent on thier list.' I hope that the next agent doesn't sell them something that I will see as bank owned in the months to come.

I welcome comments and feedback, tell me if I'm off track. I can handle it!