Mogul's advice to Realtors: Don't keep your day job

The Southern California market will get worse before it gets better, he warns a gathering. One survival strategy: Slash prices, now.

By Peter Y. Hong, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 3, 2007

Even Realtors can lose faith in the housing market.
Speaking to a gathering of industry professionals Friday, longtime California real estate titan Fred C. Sands called the housing market "pathetic" and said some agents needed to start looking for other work.

"If you've been in it for five or six years and are barely making a living, you might want to think about what you were doing before and get back into it -- you can come back in a couple of years," Sands told members of the California Assn. of Realtors meeting in Universal City.

In the short term, the local real estate market "is not going to get better," Sands said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-homes3nov03,0,7824038.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel

Realtor Descriptions

I've always been interested in realtor's "code" words. Like "cozy" usually means it's so small you can't turn around. "Bright and sunny" usually means it's painted yellow or orange. "Needs TLC" might mean bring a contracter or possibly just a shovel and a few trash cans.

I've noticed now that so many foreclosures are hitting the sales listings, realtors have different ways of listing. Probably most just ignore the foreclosure part and don't acknowledge it. Some might say bank owned or foreclosure in the description.

I saw two new ones this week that were very creative. One said "bank acquired". The other was my favorite. It said "under new ownership".

San Diego County Foreclosures

Three articles about San Diego and foreclosures.

Ground Zero in San Diego's Mortgage Mess
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/20/news/02foreclosures082007.txt

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/20/housing/934family032207.txt

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/21/survival/699foreclosurebus082007.txt