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.
- 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.
- 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’.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
I hope you used the short sale fraud up the street from me that popped up in the MLS one night and was marked contingent the next morning. 3 months later the listing agent and buyers agent bought the house themselves for 600k. 2 months later after minor restoration the property sold for 980k. All this in a neighborhood where houses down the street were/are selling for 1.2k and these don’t even have a view.
Tried to report the fraud and nobody cared.
I would have bought the house myself if I actually had a chance at it. (The listing agent was no longer accepting offers and somehow ends up buying it himself.)
Want examples?
#1 – This is a current mailer:
I’ve written to you several times in the past about your property. It keeps popping up on our radar for properties that may be underwater and qualify for a short sale.
If that’s the case, we can create a win-win situation where you can short sell your home without having to put it on the MLS and have buyers cycling through disturbing you and your family. This can be a “hush” process without your neighbors even knowing your home is for sale.
#4 – An agent told me to my face this year that this is their strategy to get listings. Flat out, with no hesitation.
#3 – Everyone ‘re-freshes’ their listings, because they see other agents doing it. If we can say it is in the best interest of the seller, then it seems that anything goes.
But the only reason to do it is to intentionally deceive the buyers, which should be a crime.
For the extremely well researched flip side to “redlining,” check out:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/american-murder-mystery/306872/
The rules of the marketplace, harsh sometimes they may be, apply to everyone. It doesn’t matter who you think you are. Everyone has 3 choices:
1. Provide value
2. Figure out an angle, or
3. Do what you’re told
Even though I haven’t seen the documentary, I know it will not conflict with those rules, it will only illustrate them.
Someone’s gotta win, and you know what that means…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3DZ1zqFTuo
Or how about when you call a certain realtor team, and they always have multiple offers on every new listing. But then they aren’t marked pending for weeks….or months!
If you have multiple offers in the first week of the listing, they will be full price or close – you can’t tell me that you couldn’t put a deal together.
Yes, and those guys have probably done a couple of hundred like that!
Don’t forget”one stop shopping” where the in house lender charges 2 points more for the same rate. I tried to close a deal with a usaa referral agent by pointing out that another VA lender could pay ALL of their buyers closing costs at the same rate.She replied that she depended on these referrals and would not suggest “going off the reservation” …ok…I guess that’s a funny looking buyer agreement that I have never seen,where the buyers interest is not important.I wonder if her client liked their 2nd or 3rd choice?