In the film, Giorgio is pursuing how housing became the critical component of the middle class.  The racial injustice is real – agents will tell you that we still see it regularly in the C.C&Rs of older neighborhoods that blacks were forbidden to own there.

Thankfully those covenants have been struck down, and declared invalid.  But as you heard in the movie trailer, the damage has been done.

There are other atrocities seen daily that could be stopped, if desired.

But there is no desire within the industry to end the rampant fraud being perpetrated by realtors upon the unsuspecting real estate consumers.

It ranges from the blundering incompetence of not including decent photos and remarks to the deliberate and intentional felony fraud that we see every day.

The lack of transparency fuels the fraud, and the realtor community does nothing to stop it.  When was the last time you saw a realtor do a perp walk? Yet there are realtors committing fraud and deceit every day.

The breakdown is with the brokers – they aren’t properly supervising their agents, and I don’t think they have a clue what is really going on.

  1. Short sales that are spooned to insiders who then defraud the bank into agreeing to a below-market price so it can be flipped for tremendous profit – and the MLS is complicit in the fraud by refusing to turn off the DOM meter, which is the convincing evidence that tricks the bank into thinking the property was on the market for months, instead of minutes.
  2. Listings that never get the benefit of being on the open market. Sellers deserve it, agents have agreed to do it in order to be a member of the MLS, but every day you see another ‘sold before processing’.
  3. The ‘re-freshing’ of listings to purposely deceive the buyers into thinking this is a hot new offering.  But it’s not – it is a re-hash of an old listing that in most cases, nobody wanted for months.
  4. Listing agents who intentionally high-ball the list price to get the listing.  Their guilt is evidenced in the listing period – they insist on 6 to 12 month listings.  With a third of the listings selling in the first 10 days, why do you need a 12-month listing?  Because the agent knows the list price is too high, and hopes to work down the seller as time goes on.
  5. Are agents experienced, and have proper skills? The industry has done nothing to help educate the public about hiring competent agents.  In fact, the brokers want you to hire the least-experienced agents who have the most favorable commission splits to the house.

Yes, buyer beware, blah blah. But real estate consumers don’t do this enough to have ample education or experience in selling and buying homes – that’s why they hire us!  But agents prey on consumers, and the industry does nothing to stop it.

This is the movie I want to do!

Giorgio?

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Jim the Realtor
Jim is a long-time local realtor who comments daily here on his blog, bubbleinfo.com which began in September, 2005. Stick around!

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