2008 December Newsletter - Alaska Association of Realtors

(Member Survey, continued from page 11)
Most Challenging Aspects of Business
Realtors are currently facing. Out of these diverse
responses, several common themes emerged. First
was the current economic situation in the United
States, particularly the credit and mortgage crises.
at the media’s portrayal of the economic situation.
Third, there were a number of comments about
personal struggles with working long hours for
representative sample of the comments.
Overall Economic Situation
*“The government, their deception. In the
and stupid loans. I had someone come in and tell
me that the lender told them the seller would pay
all the closing costs! Then they had 80/20 loans
and loaned people that shouldn’t have had loans.
They told them they qualify for a 120K house and
then I ask them if they would like to go to a show,
if their car needed repair, would they be able to
repair it? By maxing out the lenders, they did
them a disservice.”
*“The sellers need to be realistic about
the price they list their homes for, and also getting
buyers to understand that even though the prices
are going down, they can’t steal the property.”
*“For people being able to afford to buy
a home at the current time because of the credit
Media
*“Finding buyers, people not scared of the
market; the national news is making them scared.
The national media has trickled down over to us.
It has put a cloud over our area, put a damper on
(Member Survey, continue on page 19)
December 2008 • Alaska REALTOR® 13
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11/24/2008 12:23:47 PM