[MrTudo]

Live by the sword, die by the sword

[LingLing]

Do you think reduced housing price and property tax will help local economy, especially small business in service sector? I think so because people (except those who bought too much house during the boom) would have more money to spend. Am I right?

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by SKB

I have always believed in living within your means and saving for a rainy day. It looks like the rain is really coming down hard now all across the USA with ground 0 being Florida.
Things are finally getting interesting, I wonder what happened to NYChiefsFan have not seen him around.

SKB, actually the economy in my area is strong. We have a low unemployment rate and our housing market hasn't dropped much at all. Of course, we didn't have the exorbitant costs that Fla. did to begin with.

LingLing, IMHO~your theory should be right. But the cost of housing in Fla. actually hasn't come down to a decent level. For instance a house that cost 100,000 in 2001 was then sold for 400,000 in 2005. Just because they've "sacrificed" that same house now for 350,000 doesn't really mean that things have stabilized at all. Should it drop back to 100,000? Of course not, but it is nowhere near the 3%-5% increase per year in housing that keeps things balanced. The taxes and insurance are outrageous there and they have to be. Insurance companies can't insurance a half a million dollar house that's in a hurricane/tornado/flood area for a low price.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by LingLing

Do you think reduced housing price and property tax will help local economy, especially small business in service sector? I think so because people (except those who bought too much house during the boom) would have more money to spend. Am I right?

I don't know, so many people bought late in the boom and financed to the hilt, a reduction in the value of their home isn't going to give them more spending money, especially not the ones with adjusting ARMs .

Reductions in property taxes would help everyone personally (not so sure it will help the services in our cities though), but this new tax proposal is a bigger bunch of garbage every time I look at it .

[MiamiRob]

I guess this is a bash a Realtor thread? I'm a Realtor and have met my share of arrogant SOBs in my profession. One of the worst things brokers do to new agents is too promote an image of wealth through their automobiles. I've seen agents lease cars that were way too expensive for their budgets.

I fortunately had a very good broker who espoused the virtues of clients first & commissions later. Treat your clients well and the money will follow was the mantra of my office. I'm now in my 12th year of being an agent and most of my business comes from referrals from previous clients. If one comes into the real estate field expecting overnight success & wealth they are sorely mistaken. It is a lot of hard work to get a transaction through from the financing aspect to the physical condition of the property and finally to the emotional nature of the whole process. I sometimes feel like a psycho therapist dealing with clients but I understand it's is a very stressful process.

Anyways enough of my rantings; I just wanted you to know that there are many agents who are very passionate about what they do and don't see clients as just a paycheck.

[hiknapster]

My friend works in customer service. He dealt with a woman the other night who could not pay her bill. She said, "Do you realize that I make $390,00 a year?" He asked what she did. She's a real estate agent in Florida. He said she could not pay her bill for about a year, yet she was incredibly arrogant with him.

[VaNative]

When I was looking for a house in the summer of 2005, I came across a house that I really liked and called the realtor listed on the sign. When he told me the asking price, I just about dropped the phone! Then he asks me what price range I was looking for and told him nothing over $145K. He actually had the nerve to belittle me by saying he didn't sell houses in THAT range and would recommend working with someone else. I wish I kept his name and number...I would sure like to call him now and ask how many houses he's sold in the past year. JERK! http://bestsmileys.com/angry1/4.gif (broken link)