The New York Times Must Hate REO Brokers

Evidently, a convention of REO brokers should be somber. At least, that what Eric Lipton of the New York Times seems to intimate in this report, which reads more like an Onion article than serious reportage. Apparently, REO brokers, or the brokers who list and sell bank-owned foreclosures, are just lighting their cigars with $100 bills while the country suffers. A few excerpts: 

“What we have seen so far is just a hint of what is coming down the pike in the next three years,” Marty Higgins, a San Francisco real estate broker who specializes in apartment buildings, said as he stepped off his golf cart, smoking a cigar.

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 Stephen Christie, a Westlake Village, Calif., broker, said the efforts by the Obama administration to slow down foreclosures made no sense.

“It is screwing it all up,” Mr. Christie said, as a waiter at the hotel sushi bar handed him a giant tray of fresh-cut fish.

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“Three dozen R.E.O. listings between $1.8 and $8 million,” she said, a pomegranate martini in her hand, as she cited what she soon hopes to be handling. “Hello! Those are big numbers.”

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I left out the best one at the end. You should read the article. 

I don’t for a moment think that some unguarded time at a convention is a fair way to characterize the attitudes or lifestyle of any broker, let alone an REO specialist. This article foments resentments that ought not be. Real estate -all real estate- is hard work. Nobody in this industry should have to apologize for what they do in their time off. I have my share of gripes with some REO agents for sure, but it is all in how they conduct their business, not how they conduct their time at a conference.

What about the attorneys who foreclose on the properties? Do we get to see what they do at their conference? Of course not. The real estate agents are the bad guys. 

The next vacation I go on I’ll make sure I don’t speak with any reporters. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go eat a lobster tail served by a bikini -clad hooters waitress. NOT. 

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J. Philip Faranda ranks among New York’s premier short sale REALTORS specializing in short sales in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam & Dutchess Counties. www.NYShortSaleTeam.com. Read Phil’s short sale blog at http://NewYorkShortSaleBlog.wordpress.com.

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