John's Blog: September 2007

While none of us are in the real estate business as a public service, if we are the professionals we should be our goal will always be to put our clients interests first.

In today's housing market a lot of clients are confused, frightened, threatened, and in real trouble. They got into trouble with a lot of help from realtors who helped them buy houses they shouldn't have bought with money they shouldn't have borrowed and now they need our help in finding a way out of the mess they are in.

Yes, there is plenty of blame to go around, but the issue today is not so much "Who screwed up?" but "What went wrong?" 

The numbers of troubled loans still in the pipeline is staggering. We can wring our hands and proclaim, "Ain't  it awful," but there are thousands of homeowners who need more than a sympathetic listener. They need proactive realtors who help them understand that the time to deal with a problem is before it becomes so overwhelming that there are no reasonable solutions.

These homeowners facing foreclosure and the loss of their home within the next six to 12 months need to know that we may be able to help them before they lose their home. Each of us should educate ourselves on the process of "loss mitigation" and make ourselves available. Not only is it something we should do as professionals; it is something we can do which will benefit us at the same time it is benefiting others.

In real estate as in other areas of our social interaction, there is little likelihood that any two observers will draw identical conclusions from the same set of "facts". Sometimes it is selective memory, wishful thinking, divergent backgrounds, etc.

But the issue is not why two people draw divergent conclusions from the same set of "facts". The issue I want to highlight is that regardless of the "facts" involved, the perception of an individual is the only reality that matters.

If we apply this to the current real estate meltdown facing some regions of the country, it is clear that although the use and abuse of sub-prime loans has varied widely from region to region, the barrage of national headlines regarding foreclosure rates, housing prices, etc. has impacted Realtors, lenders, home buyers and sellers in all regions.

Whether or not a real crisis exists in a given local area, if the buyers and sellers [ibelieve there is a crisis, their buying habits will be impacted. In other words, their perceptioin shapes their reality -- and then creates a new reality for everyone around.

What do you think?