I haven’t seen the Nightline show tonight, but I shot my own version while they were here last week for a day and a half. The TV crew followed while I was showing buyers some potential investment properties to buy in Oceanside, and we were looking for fixers. We found them!
We stopped for lunch to write an offer on a larger, but uglier, house, the one with the beehive between the plywood and window glass pane. We were scrambling because the listing agent already had tentative agreement with another buyer, and we were hoping to spoil their party. Even though we offered more, the bank clerk decided it was too late, even though she didn’t have signatures – so we missed out on that one.
Since then the buyers have seen 40 properties for sale, made 13 offers, and have 2 in escrow. All decent listings had multiple offers on them.
At the end of the video you’ll see the 6,800sf house next to Camp Pendleton. It was purchased for $1,352,500 in January, 2008, and 90% financed. Not long after purchasing, the owner called me to discuss his plight. He bought it brand new and had been in escrow for months and months, and while he had his concerns, he went ahead and closed. He never moved in, instead he let the bank have it, and it’s currently listed for $949,000.
Here’s the video:
Can’t wait!!!
p.s.: Was a photogenic buyer part of the plan?
Congrats Jimbo!
We will be watching tonight.
The young lady has uncanny look of the actress sandra bullock. Was she “casted” for the part?
I hope your JIMTV videos make it big on youtube, and you get your own reality show on HGTV/Bravo. It will be much better content than the “cheesy” stuff they have been serving up like “property virgins”…….LOL
All this national notoriety just might suggest that the bubble has pretty much been collapsed.
Up next, JtR for TIME Magazine ‘Person of the Year’! Unless the pirates overshadow…
Who needs 6,800 sq ft? I mean, even if you have six kids, that’s a whole lot of house. You pretty much need a maid or butler or something to keep up the place.
Nice work, Jim!
I’m really bummed that I’m
a) too lame to stay up for Nightline
b) too cheap to have a DVR
Realtors back east who have already seen the show are chiming in:
Jim – So sorry to hear you say on national TV that it was the lenders fault for the meltdown. Jim, the lenders did not create the loan programs or the guidelines. They just sold a product that was handed to them. That was done by investors on Wall Street that were willing to take risk to get high yields. Also, another major factor was the regulated Mortgage-Backed Securities were put into the non-regulated derivatives market that took hugh risk.
Hi Jim,
I’ve lived in San Diego for about 30 years and still call it home but moved to the east coast in 2003 for my husband’s job. I didn’t want to do it but I did.
Well, I just saw your segment and I must say it was refreshing to see a real estate agent “telling it like it is” about homes he was selling! If I was moving back to the San Diego area, I would DEFINITELY want to do business with you! Hopefully sooner than later!
We need more real estate agents like you but I guess you have the corner market on honesty and keeping it real, haha! Keep up the great work!
For all you newbies: Jim has been my friend & mentor for 11 years and he always has told it like it is, period.
The only difference I could see in the video was that he kept it under 85mph in the car when the film crew was aboard..
Well done Jim. Well done.
Kudos to you and your wife, Jim! Just learned about you tonight on Nightline. I had been struggling with a migraine and YOU were the balm I needed to cap off a long day. It’s a feeling of victory, a thing of beauty which is a joy forever. It’s people like you who will keep the USA afloat.
I had my residential license years ago and my broker told me I would ruin myself being forthright. She didn’t persuade me to change my values however, other factors eased me out of the field, but I transferred them to another career. I believe I would’ve seen the bubble bursting had I had I stayed in the game like you did.
Take care and thank you for being you.
Excellent!!! BTW, you’re now so popular that the server’s being stressed.
Congrats. Like tj, I kept getting error messages when I tried to access the site.
Your server is having its own bubble at the moment!
Blast from the past:
I’ll buy you that $4 cup of coffee if you can find anything that isn’t off at least 10% from the peak this time next year.
Rob Dawg | September 16th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Wow, 2 1/2 years? Time flies. Congratulations.
Congrats, Jim. Well done. I always enjoy your videos but I especially enjoyed watching your version of the Nightline story directly after watching the ABC version. Like others have already noted, bubbleinfo seems to be suffering (enjoying?) a heavy load right now.
Some nasty comments on abc.com but keep your head up!
Cheers,
AnonyMiss
Wow, you’re great! I wish you were in Riverside to take you up on your expertise and honesty. It’d be much easier to find a home, that’s for sure.
My nose was bigger than I thought….
Thanks for watching everybody!
I’m going to tell everyone that I read your blog before you were a celebrity. 🙂
Kudos. Love, love, love the dual signoff.
BTW, I didn’t see it on tee vee. I saw it on the intertubes! 😉
http://abcnews.go.com/NIGHTLINE
Hi Jim,
Congratulations, I just saw you on ABC News this morning which was a summary of the Nightline appearance I’m guessing. I love your attitude and blunt honesty, I can see why it’s working for you.
Good to see a neighbor doing well and getting some exposure from main stream media by doing what’s right. 😛
Keep up the good work and best of all entertainment!
Sincerely,
Joel Mackey
Oceanside, CA
Thanks for the kind thoughts, though not everyone saw it the same – this was emailed:
Sadly, you made people who are upside down on their equity, etc, feel foolish and you could have helped to promote the idea that things can get better…you acted really creepy and made such distasteful corny comments…not that that matters, but you hurt and damage the industry and hopes of owning in America…you had a chance to explain what happened, besides fixed rates, which were low at the time, but ignorant buyers didn’t understand variables or even what amortization means, but bottom line you made realtors look BAD.
SAD SAD
i thought that actually came out pretty well. i was nervous they were going to edit it down to “jim the evil realtor, bubble-profiteer extraordinaire”, but it didn’t seem to come across like that to me.
Here’s the Nightline Clip:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7358684
The Nightline show seems to state that Jim stands out from the rest of the realtors because he is honest. I have seen many of Jim’s videos and he does point out thing maybe some other brokers won’t but are things that bad in the realty scene that he is seen as a rebel or an oddity because he is honest? It was a fun watch anyway.
I was expecting a story about the real estate market that featured you, but little did I know the story was about YOU! I thought it was fantastic and I do hope other realtors around the country take note. Your honest approach is refreshing and what I like to call “value added.” I just wish all real estate professionals provided their clients this level of service. Keep up the good work Jim!
Jim,
Long time, first time. I am so pleased you’re getting the exposure so rightfully deserved. Through work ethic like yours, the ‘irrational exuberance’ that gripped the residential real estate market is coming back down to earth. Yours is a lead other realtors would be wise to take.
Great expose on ABC, but trying to distill the cause for this mess in a 20 second sound bite is tough. CNBC produced a program, House of Cards, broaching this subject that I found informative (and aligns with my views – imagine that!). It can be viewed here (over 90 minutes): http://www.hulu.com/watch/59026/cnbc-originals-house-of-cards.
Keep up the great work!
P.S. I briefly met you after a real estate panel you participated in last year. I want to thank you for the “There’s Nothing Price Can’t Fix” t-shirt. It’s great to wear to open houses :^)
Keep it real!
It’s sad that pointing out the large bee infestation stands out as honesty. When drawing attention to the blatantly obvious stands apart it is a telling commentary on the real estate business and our society in general.
Only downside to the piece was that the truck didn’t even get a cameo!
Jim,
Congrats again on everything. I thought the piece was well done.
After stumbling onto this board years ago, it’s really amazing to see the tides turn so much.
I used to send links to your posts to family and friends on a near daily basis to try and open their eyes to what was going on. Back in the days when bubble talk was blasphemy. Now they are seeing it national TV. What a change.
(Still waiting to see videos for the area I’m interested in. And for the sellers to realize it’s not 2006 anymore.)
So glad the Nightline clip was posted online. I couldn’t stay up last night (Sorry Jim, my little one doesn’t sleep through the night so I gotta catch sleep when I can).
I think the piece they did on you was great. I hope you are happy with it too.
Let me know when you are hiring. I need a mentor like you!
for all of the newbies, I’ve known Jim since coming down from OC to SD back in 2005, at the peak of the bubble.
we were renters back then and the information he provided really helped us stay out of the market up until end of last year.
the no nonsense approach and wealth of information typical of what you get from Jim. Put it to you this way: We see a decent looking house, Jim sees lack of raingutters and potential mold. you can’t get much better than that.
Once again, Jim, you got to consider that “Jim-certified” idea again. a realtor from another area can contact you, you can review his/her prior dealings, especially during the bubble years. if he/she is up to snuff, he/she is “Jim-certified” and earns a link on your page. for your time researching him/her, you get a set fee. what do you think?
JtR,
Excellent! (spoken in Montgomery Burns’ voice)
Good show Jim.
I too can vouch for Jim. While the items he showed were “obvious” to many, many other realtors sites would not show that. You’d have to actually go there to see the real thing.
When we were buying he pointed out items such as steep stairs we would not want to maneuver as we age, and on another, high winds which would make it unpleasant to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful view most of the time. (We thought it was just breezy that day).
We now have a wonderful home, single story, with pleasant ocean breezes! Would many realtors have talked us out of the other houses we thought we loved?
“We now have a wonderful home, single story, with pleasant ocean breezes! Would many realtors have talked us out of the other houses we thought we loved?” – usanancy
No, he didn’t talk you out of a house, he talked you into a home you do love.