Comments on: Anatomy of a disaster: Option ARMs

By: Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:16:30 +0000

I agree whole heartedly with Dale Hart’s comment that our profession shares in the blame for the whole mess. We should not be pointing fingers at “greedy” bankers or mortgage reps when we were the ones who dealt with the buyers directly. I will admit that I’ve taken a small pleasure though in the downturn and its effect on our profession. It has been like wathching evolution in progress. Agents who work hard and who invest in their education and business are still around. A lot of the others who woke up one morning and thought “maybe I’ll try selling real estate” are not.

By: Dale Hart

Dale Hart — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:55:33 +0000

Melanie, you are right on target but let’s not forget or forgive Realtors who went along for the ride and kept their mouth shut when a client didn’t have cash to close, wanted and got 6% seller help and 103% financing and no home inspection. Realtors continue to puff up their chests and claim to the public they are “professionals”, yet can be found many times hiding in the corner when it comes time to intelligently guide their clients through the entire home buying process.

By: Melanie McLane

Melanie McLane — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:37:08 +0000

I’ve always said there’s enough blame to go around–greedy lenders, stupid consumers (“If it sounds too good to be true…”), loan brokers who turned a blind eye, the underwriters on Wall Street who said these loans were good investments…plenty of blame.