John Sieling

As this very unique market moves through it's place in history, there's two items I'd like to flag up for us to at least acknowledge and then consider for change. Whether you are the cause of such hypocritical behavior or the victim of same, please read on.

We realtors have a real image problem with the public when it comes to transparency. As a result, a common stereotype non-realtors have is that we are not straight with them. This gets exacerbated when REO listing agents simply refuse to communicate with agents. I've been fortunate enough to have two REO clients and I can't tell you how many times I've been complimented for simply calling someone back. Isn't this a service business? Shouldn't that mean service to everyone, including our industry colleagues?

The second issue is the posturing of government institutions, who claim to be helping to make home ownership more affordable or keeping people in homes. Please! By manipulating the market with government money, they are causing all sorts of non-market driven behavior in the financial sector. The backlog of foreclosures NOT on the market is causing, in Bay Area markets under $500k price points, a spike in prices, complete with multiple offer scenes of five years ago, driving those very first time buyers using FHA loans, from the bargaining table. Couple that with bizzare requests by some underwriters at the last minute on a 10% LTV loan (I went through it!) and the frustration just spreads like kudzu.

Let the market happen. Be transparent in your dealings. There are many unfair things about unbridled captilism but there are far more when you don't deal honestly and monkey with the system to placate political winds.