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In a couple of articles today it is stated that Real Estate Brokers are misreporting sale prices of auction sales in order to keep real estate prices artificially high. At what point did the Real Estate/ Mortgage industry become exempt from the laws on fraud that pertain to the rest of us? Both the Real Estate and the Mortgage industries have been committing fraud on a mass magnitude ever since the liar loans earlier in the decade. And yet where are the prosecutions for these crimes. I am yet to see a Real Estate broker or Mortgage broker doing the perpwalk on the nightly news for their part in the economic tragedy that they in large part helped to create. The ethics of the Real Estate industry as a whole is shameful and in need of some intensive reform.
In a couple of articles today it is stated that Real Estate Brokers are misreporting sale prices of auction sales in order to keep real estate prices artificially high. At what point did the Real Estate/ Mortgage industry become exempt from the laws on fraud that pertain to the rest of us? Both the Real Estate and the Mortgage industries have been committing fraud on a mass magnitude ever since the liar loans earlier in the decade. And yet where are the prosecutions for these crimes. I am yet to see a Real Estate broker or Mortgage broker doing the perpwalk on the nightly news for their part in the economic tragedy that they in large part helped to create. The ethics of the Real Estate industry as a whole is shameful and in need of some intensive reform.
Interesting stuff. I've seen real estate brokers do quite a few tricks to make homes look they are selling for more. One way is by having a higher sales price and then giving back quite a bit in closing costs.
These real estate crooks know that there's a sucker born every minute. Housing prices are based upon on average of what people are willing to pay in a certain geographical area.
Let's say a home appraises at $250,000...often real estate agents/brokers will list it at around $325,000 in the hopes that some fool will fall in love an dpay the overinflated price. If they get no bites at that price, they'll drop it to $315,000 a say "It's a steal since the price has been discounted." People just need to say "No, I won't pay these overinflated prices." A 55-year old 950 sq. ft. home in disrepair in a bad neighborhood is NOT worth $300,000, especially given the fact that the average household in America has an income of a little over $50,000 a year.
There is an interesting contrast between housing prices vis-a-vis personal incomes. In cities like Beverly Hills and Sana Monica and Aspen. Colorado, the median price of a house is about equal to 20 years of median income of residents. But in the West Texas towns of Borger, Pecos and Kermit, the median income worker can buy a median-priced house for one year's wages. The latter group would also include most towns situated near military bases.
Freeport TX, for example, is a town of 12,000 that is actually growing, 50 miles from Houston, on a free public beach. has a crime rate lower than Rutland, Vermont, and the 2008 median house value was $61K.
Last edited by jtur88; 09-12-2010 at 10:49 AM..
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