Schadenfreude: joy in the misfortune of others. We all know we shouldn't do it, but sometimes we just can't help ourselves. As I noted in The Reservoir of Schadenfreude:
Schadenfreude is not a spiritually uplifting response. Most religious traditions would counsel us against it. In Buddhist teaching, people are taught to cultivate feelings of compassion for the misfortune of others -- feeling empathy and sadness for the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune when they impact another. The near enemy of compassion is pity: it masquerades as compassion, but it has an element of separateness which detracts from the sense of Oneness with all things. Joy is good: Sympathetic joy, the joy in the happiness of another, is another pillar of a spiritual existence. However, joy in the misfortune of another -- schadenfreude -- is not a skillful behavior leading to happiness. Even knowing that, many of us feel this joy anyway. Why is that?
Because it feels good! Why do we eat garbage that we know isn't good for us? Because it tastes good! Schadenfreude is one of life's guilty pleasures, and today, we get to enjoy a healthy does at the expense of realtors.
Even in the strongest economies, New Yorkers of sound mind find that talking with a real estate broker can result in rolled eyes, raised voices and a New York version of “taking it outside” by threatening litigation. But now, as the sales market whimpers along in the languid last days of summer, some brokers say they have never been met by so many demands from their clients, or so much hostility.
Victoria Shtainer, a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker, said one current client had asked her to arrive two hours before open houses to clean for her. Another client, a group of corporate executives from Texas, insisted on being driven around the city at various times for five weeks.
“The behavior goes from good to bad very quickly,” said Chris A. Randolph, a Barak Realty agent who has worked with two recent clients who gave him the brunt of their anger. One client would only grunt and acted so morose in front of brokers that they called Mr. Randolph to ask what they had done to offend his client.
“I feel like the waitress where I get blamed for everything that happens,” he said.
Pressure comes from all sides. Renters want the perks their friends negotiated. Buyers, hearing about drops in prices, think they should pay far less than the asking price. Sellers are angry because they are not getting the prices they once expected, and are wondering why, when the Internet has made it easier to market their own apartments, they should have to pay a 6 percent commission, or whether brokers ought to be doing more to earn it — for instance, cleaning.
The pressure from both sides of the transaction is what makes brokerage challenging. If it were easy, we wouldn't need realtors at all.... I won't pursue that thread much further.
And brokers who remember when their advice was eagerly welcomed are having to adjust their egos as clients take all of these feelings out on them.
Since realtors are trained to tell both buyers and sellers whatever they want to hear, it isn't surprising that realtors became accustomed to having their poor advice eagerly welcomed. It isn't until the general public realizes that realtors are self-serving and their advice is bullshit that people no longer find it valuable.
“They treat us like we’re starving and we need to do them all kinds of favors to possibly make some money,” said Michele Conte, a Corcoran Group broker who was recently asked by one former client to help her sell her apartment without a commission. She agreed to help, in hopes that the former client might eventually hire her.
Of course, these complaints are unlikely to bring tears to the eyes of the numerous New Yorkers who have dealt with unsavory brokers. The New York Department of State is receiving, on average, about 80 complaints a month about brokers. That is down from 100 a month last year and 110 in 2006, but it is not clear whether brokers are behaving better or whether the slower market means fewer opportunities for them to butt heads with clients.
A decline in complaints is undoubtedly the result of fewer transactions. Has anyone noticed an increase in the quality of realtors lately?
One broker who complained to this reporter about a demanding client provided e-mails that showed her own comments were actually more hostile. “It is not your way or no way,” one of the messages said.
How stupid is that? Turning over incriminating emails without realizing it isn't very bright.
Still, brokers want it known that they are members of the human race who need to eat and will bleed if pricked.
I suppose this is where we stop to feel compassion... not.
Sarah Parsons, a Halstead agent, said that in the 11 years she had worked as a broker, she had never encountered so many unrealistic clients as in the past year.
One buyer demanded that she limit his co-op board interview to 30 minutes. Another demanded that she negotiate 30 percent off the price of a distressed apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, then grew angry at her when he had trouble getting financing. She says more sellers are micromanaging her as well.
“The buyers got more demanding, and the sellers got more frightened,” Ms. Parsons said.
Elyse Goldstein, an Upper East Side psychologist, said she had heard from brokers that clients were taking out their frustrations on them.
“When people are anxious, it stirs up their primitive defense mechanisms,” Dr. Goldstein said. She added that New Yorkers were faced with “disillusionment about what they can buy,” which she said “freaks them out.”
Ms. Shtainer, a broker who is also a lawyer, said she had been enlisted by executives of a Texas company that wanted to buy two furnished apartments for as much as $5 million — a deal that could have brought her up to $100,000, after she divided the commission with the selling brokers and with her firm.
So she acceded to demands that she considered to be excessive: that she pick them up at the airport when they came to visit, that she drive them around, that she photograph every detail of apartments they visited and that she speak with them in conference calls late into the night.
She said the executives had alienated sellers by moving slowly during negotiations and demanding that a furnished apartment include the seller’s personal effects like a coffee maker, a fax machine and pillows.
Then, after all that, they fired her.
And for the client who wanted her to arrive two hours before the open house to scrub the windows and tables? Ms. Shtainer came only one hour early, but she scrubbed.
“I have three kids to feed,” she said.
Why am I annoyed with realtors?
I am involved with real estate transactions, so why do I find realtors so distasteful? For the record, I am not a realtor. I have MLS access as an independent broker. I chose not to become part of their organization because it is too rotten to reform from within.
Bank in January I wrote Urgency Versus Reality: realtors Win, Buyers Lose, the Ideal Home Brokers manifesto. In short, I am bothered by realtors because they have a disregard for the truth. It isn't that they are liars -- although some of them knowing dispel inaccurate information -- it is that they just don't care. When a realtor tells a buyer that prices are going up, they may be right, but right or wrong they really don't care, they only want to tell the buyer what the buyer wants to hear to facilitate a sale. I think this behavior is deplorable, and I am openly hostile toward those who engage in it.
So every once in a while, when I see a juicy article like the one above, I will take my shots at realtors. Perhaps after three years of greatly reduced incomes, I should feel more compassion for their plight. I need to hear the NAr come out an apologize to everyone they pushed into buying homes they could not afford with emotional ploys and ridiculous financial claims. I need to see them stop their endless bullshitting and attempts to create a false sense of urgency in buyers. I need to know they are truly sorry that their actions lead people into the foreclosure meat grinder. Then I may feel their pain. Until then, I will feel the schadenfreude I shouldn't allow myself, and I will make no apologies for it.
She was there for the money
The property records do not reflect that this property was purchased by the current owner in 2004. The sales price and initial mortgage information is not provided. There was a sale in 1998, but that owner sold to the current owner on 8/26/2004. In any case, the woman who bought this property was an equity stripping spender.
On 3/4/2005 she borrowed $35,000 from a private party -- and probably had a great private party with the money.
On 7/21/2005, the money she borrowed long gone, she refinanced the first mortgage for $535,000.
On 5/8/2006 she refinanced again with a $676,000 first mortgage.
On 11/7/2006 she found a subprime lender to give her another $16,305.
She defaulted in late 2009.
Foreclosure Record Recording Date: 08/11/2010 Document Type: Notice of Sale
Foreclosure Record Recording Date: 04/14/2010
The property is scheduled for auction on September 9, 2010.
I would consider this one
If there were a realistic chance of this short-sale property selling, I would consider buying it. At 4.51% interest rates, the payment is lower than rent -- unless someone can show me a link to a 2,500 SF 4/2 with a pool that rents for less than $2,600. If anyone can find a better rental, please post the link, I am looking.
This property as priced with our current interest rates is clearly below rental parity. Properties selling for less than rental parity are the kind of deals we can expect to see more of over the next few years, particularly as prices roll over in the fall and winter of 2010-2011.
Home Purchase Price … $295,500 Home Purchase Date .... 6/9/1998
Net Gain (Loss) .......... $314,560 Percent Change .......... 106.5% Annual Appreciation … 6.2%
Cost of Ownership ------------------------------------------------- $649,000 .......... Asking Price $129,800 .......... 20% Down Conventional 4.51% ............... Mortgage Interest Rate $519,200 .......... 30-Year Mortgage $126,987 .......... Income Requirement
$2,634 .......... Monthly Mortgage Payment
$562 .......... Property Tax $0 .......... Special Taxes and Levies (Mello Roos) $54 .......... Homeowners Insurance $0 .......... Homeowners Association Fees ============================================ $3,250 .......... Monthly Cash Outlays
-$440 .......... Tax Savings (% of Interest and Property Tax) -$682 .......... Equity Hidden in Payment $217 .......... Lost Income to Down Payment (net of taxes) $81 .......... Maintenance and Replacement Reserves ============================================ $2,426 .......... Monthly Cost of Ownership
Cash Acquisition Demands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ $6,490 .......... Furnishing and Move In @1% $6,490 .......... Closing Costs @1% $5,192 ............ Interest Points @1% of Loan $129,800 .......... Down Payment ============================================ $147,972 .......... Total Cash Costs $37,100 ............ Emergency Cash Reserves ============================================ $185,072 .......... Total Savings Needed
Property Details for 37 PLYMOUTH Irvine, CA 92620 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beds: 4 Baths: 2 full 1 part baths Home size: 2,498 sq ft ($260 / sq ft) Lot Size: 5,300 sq ft Year Built: 1978 Days on Market: 11 Listing Updated: 40406 MLS Number: S629181 Property Type: Single Family, Residential Community: Northwood Tract: Pl ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ According to the listing agent, this listing may be a pre-foreclosure or short sale.
Fantastic Opportunity to Live in Northwood! Large 4 Bedroom 3 Bathroom Pool Home with Additional Large Bonus Room Which Could Also Be Used As a 5th Bedroom. Huge Downstairs Master Bedroom with Walk-in Closet and Wet Bar. Elegant Formal Dining Room Plus Bright Breakfast Nook in Kitchen. Home Also Features Marble-Like Italian Ceramic Tile Floors, Vaulted Ceilings, Recessed Lighting, and a Gorgeous Marble Tiled Fireplace with Custom Wood Mantle. Pool, Spa, 3 Car Garage, Concrete Tile Roof, AND... **NO HOA DUES & NO MELLO ROOS!** This One Will Not Last Long. HURRY!!
Title Case, asterisks, ALL CAPS, multiple exclamation points, typical realtorspeak. Need I say more about the false sense of urgency?
I hope you have enjoyed this week, and thank you for reading the Irvine Housing Blog: astutely observing the Irvine home market and combating California Kool-Aid since 2006.
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