NAR in the News

David Lereah appeared on CNN Paula Zahn Now commenting on home prices. “The housing market went through a very big boom. We needed a correction. Prices got too high. Now we need prices to come down to bring people back into the buying marketplace,” said Lereah. Tom Stevens testified on Wednesday before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance and Accountability on the OCC’s decision in December 2005 to grant three national banks the ability to enter into speculative real estate development transactions. The Wall Street Journal wrote about the hearing and quoted Tom Stevens on his concerns over the expansion of bank powers. Stevens said, "What we have stated and what we still firmly believe is that the OCC's actions set in motion a process that will result in the regulator authorizing national banks to engage in real-estate brokerage, which is currently prohibited."

Posted on September 28 at 04:38 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Coverage of August’s existing-home sales is dominating the news this week. David Lereah appeared on NBC Nightly News commenting on the reported drop in home prices. “The sellers market has turned into a buyers market. That’s why prices have come down over the last 12 months. And that is why they will continue to come down over the next six months,” stated Lereah. Top news media including the New York Times, USA Today and CNNMoney.com also quoted David Lereah in stories on home sales and prices.

Posted on September 26 at 05:01 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

USA Today wrote a story on how speculative investors, who purchased homes with the intent of flipping, are now likely to get burned. A Forbes.com article discusses how sellers aren't just lowering their home prices as sales continue to slow, they are also offering incentives to entice buyers.

Posted on September 22 at 10:03 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

A Letter to the Editor from Tom Stevens appeared in the New York Times. The letter, “A Real Estate Agent’s Role,” (free registration required) discussed the Internet's role in real estate. “Buying a home is not like buying a book, a CD or airline ticket. The Internet’s role in residential real estate is much more like WebMD than Amazon or eBay. It empowers and informs the consumer — which is good for everyone — but it doesn’t replace the need for a doctor’s professional services,” stated Stevens. He continued, “Real estate agents provide a valuable service enabling sellers to get the best price for their homes and buyers to find the best home at the lowest price.”

The letter was in response to the article, "The Last Stand of the 6-Percenters?” which ran in the New York Times earlier this month.

Posted on September 19 at 04:59 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Some of the recent comments on this blog question the NAR research that shows homes sold with the help of a real estate professional sell for 16 percent more than those sold without representation. This statistic comes from the 2005 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. The report is for sale to anyone who wants it.

This finding was consistent across all price levels – the value of homes sold by owners was similar to the value of homes sold with the help of an agent. But what’s behind the data? A number of factors are at play:

1. Many homes sold directly by their owners are never placed on the open market, so they don’t attract a market price offer.
According to the most recent research, 39 percent of homes sold without professional assistance were sold to buyers the sellers knew in advance (relatives, friends, neighbors, etc.). These closely held home sales are not going to command top dollar, because there is little to no competition for them and price negotiations may be affected by personal relationships.

2. Even if do-it-yourself homeowners place their home on the open market, they often have problems marketing the home effectively.
Although 77 percent of recent home buyers used the Internet last year to search for a home, only 17 percent of for-sale-by-owner sellers placed their home online. These home sellers typically use methods like yard sales, newspaper ads, and word-of-mouth, which have limited reach. Preparing the home for sale can also be difficult – many homeowners see their homes through rose-colored glasses and have problems identifying and fixing issues that make their homes less appealing and marketable to buyers.

3. Real estate professionals know how to price a home appropriately for the market.
This is one of the most difficult tasks faced by home sellers who don’t hire a professional. Homes that are priced too high for the market don’t sell, and after a certain amount of time, are ignored by buyers in favor of new listings, even when the price is dropped. Homes that are priced too low represent a loss for the seller.

Despite all the hype about the latest home price valuation sites, an estimate generated on the Internet is a static representation (and a sometimes wildly inaccurate one, at that) of a dynamic commodity. A satellite photo taken from space and a computer in some distant location that crunches raw data is no substitute for a professional who knows the local marketplace, its inventory, and the idiosyncrasies of its buyers and sellers.

Posted on September 15 at 03:30 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

Top news outlets Reuters and SmartMoney.com covered Tom Stevens' testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on the housing market and economy. “After five years of outstanding growth, the housing market is undergoing a period of adjustment and becoming more and more of a balanced market between buyers and sellers,” said Stevens. He continued, “Contrary to many reports, there is not a 'national housing bubble.' All real estate is local. For example, the housing market in California is extremely different from Oklahoma.”

Realty Times wrote an article on the transitioning real estate market entitled “Why NAR Expects Home Sales to Lift from Temporary Dip” that quotes Tom Stevens and David Lereah. “This is a normal pattern during a market correction, but home prices should return to positive territory within a few months and annual appreciation will be slower than historic norms,” stated Lereah.

Posted on September 14 at 03:42 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Inman News (subscription required) published a letter from Tom Stevens describing how MLS is good for competition. “What makes MLSs special is not just that they introduce extraordinary efficiencies into the real estate transaction, or that they level the playing field so that the newest, smallest, greenest broker has just as much ability to profit from the system as the biggest guy in town. Even the fact that they are probably the safest databases on the Internet -- thanks to the standards of quality and care exhibited by the organizations that own and run them -- is not the single most distinguishing feature of MLSs. What makes MLSs unique in the business world is that they exist first to facilitate cooperation between brokers, and that includes interbroker compensation,” stated Stevens.

In other news, a Realty Times story discussed whether the cooling real estate market would result in more properties "For Sale By Owner."

Posted on September 6 at 10:59 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Tom Stevens appeared on WWL-TV in New Orleans to discuss NAR’s 2006 Conference & Expo, rebuilding the Gulf Coast and disaster insurance. MarketWatch and Reuters covered July’s pending homes sales index, which will continue to level out in the months ahead at a lower pace.

Posted on September 1 at 12:35 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)