Attack of the angry agents (and loan officers, too)
I’ve written a few times about the odd fact that real estate agents and mortgage professionals often blame the media for the problems their industries are facing.
To me it seems ridiculous: No reporter I know caused mortgage lenders to loan money to buyers with awful credit. No newspaper forced homeowners to raise the prices of their houses to artificially high levels. And not a single Web expert forced buyers to take out ill-advised adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgage loans.
Some real estate professionals, though, don’t understand this. They think that the real estate industry would be humming along now if only reporters would stop talking about all those foreclosures, defaults, sinking property values and homebuilders declaring bankruptcy.
Just when I think that maybe I’m being too sensitive about this – I am, after all, a member of the media – I run into a Realtor or mortgage loan officer who reminds me how clueless some in this industry may be.
Before I go on, here’s my standard disclaimer: I said some in the industry. The vast majority of agents and loan officers with whom I speak are smart, savvy professionals. They know that the problems of the real estate and mortgage industries go much deeper than today’s New York Times.
Last week, I phoned a real estate agent in the Washington, D.C. area to ask if she’d mind speaking to me for a story I was working on for the Washington Post’s real estate section. She let me spit out my spiel before telling me in no uncertain terms that she’d never, ever speak to anyone associated with the Washington Post. Why? Because the Post, in her opinion, has unfairly focused only on real estate’s problems, not its many positives.
Now, I know this to be untrue. I read the section, and I’ve seen many stories that have touted the benefits of homeownership. I’ve even written some of these.
It makes me wonder what this angry agent, and others like her, want from the media. Do they want reporters who only write about the benefits of homeownership? Seems like they’ve gotten more than their share of those stories already.
My humble opinion? These angry agents – and loan officers, too – need to start their own blogs. Then they can write whatever they want – whether it’s accurate or not – about the home-selling and –buying business.
Tags: angry-agent, real-estate-market, Washington-PostRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Buying a Property, Insights and Commentaries, Mortgage, Real Life Stories, Selling a Property
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