I am glad to see someone saying what I have been saying for a little while now, it is a buyer’s market.  Robert Bruss is not the kindest to real estate agents, after all he is an attorney and he must see a lot of things.  I was happy to see on his Monday Business Section that he was agreeing it is a buyer market.

On his opening paragraph, he says: "Fall 2006 is proving to be a great time to be a home buyer."  Indeed, readers of my blog know this.  Then he goes on to say how a home buyer is king with plenty of homes on the market, even unrealistic prices are no more hurdles.  He gives five warnings for buyers to beware.  One of them is debatable and after all, a lawyer is a lawyer and has to defend its business.  Number one, get a real pre-approved written home mortgage letter.  Do not bother with the free online ones, they do not show the most important thing, the FICO score.  Second, and this is where you must understand where he is coming from.  An attorney sees mostly people who misbehave or are doing something wrong.  So their interpretations of the world is that people are crooked.  He strongly cautions buyers against dual-agencies.  I am sure there plenty of unethical real estate agents out there but there are also real, ethical reputed ones also. In fact, my last transaction was in house and buyers and sellers had all the freedom in the world to talk to each other.  They saw we acted on their behalf.  But less ethical companies could get tempted to raise the price and get a higher commission.  This is how that last agent swiped the prospective buyer I had a home for by scaring them to work with her.  However, two ethical agents from two different companies could also do the same and try to bump up the commission.  That is a problem you will find anywhere.  The key is to find reputable agents from a reputable company.  That is something overlooked in these days.

The fourth point was all together strange.  Ask for a Comparative Market Analysis?  Does anyone buy or sell without it?  I have never seen it here.  I would not dream of not showing a buyer without the neighborhood comparable sales.

Well, on one hand I am happy there is some press coverage on this buyer/seller market, as I have been mentioning for a while now.  However, a lawyer is a lawyer and sees the world through his cases.

As in any transactions, be cautious, do the math and surround with ethical people.

If you think real estate agents have it bad, appraisers are in for a very tough ride.  Home buyers want a fair price and sellers the most they can get. Both rely on appraisers to get the right value.

Appraisals an important role in the residential real-estate industry and recent scandals have brought it into the limelight.  Mortgage-fraud cases often linked to shady appraisers,  inflated appraisals, are just the top of the iceberg.  Like in any industry, there are good folks and… well, less ethical folks.  And this you find in any industry unfortunately.  The problem is working with Appraisers who maintain that fine line of having enough points to attract the right loan offices and keep their integrity.  That is a very fine line to walk.

The slowing market makes all of this extremely hard for an appraiser.  Appraisers compare recent data from neighborhoods to get to a home value.  Less sales there are, less practical data there is to base your findings, the harder the job becomes.

The basic red flags are, do values seem reasonable?  Are comparable established on nearby homes?  While, you might be looking for them to be in the same school district.  Will you be given a copy of the appraisal?  Why not, since you are entitled.

Look to find out if the appraiser is licensed and/or currently certified?

The Real Estate Journal makes some good points on what to watch out for if you are in the market for selling or refinancing, as well as buying.  Again, surround yourselves with professional with a proven track record.  That is why I work with the best agents in my office.

Here is the link.