Recently an Active Rain member wrote a post about victims. He asked the question, What do we know about victims?, and then proceed to give his definitions, none of which are present in any dictionary I have ever seen. Many of those that commented agreed with his position. This is my response.
There are victims of the housing market. There are others who are not. There are personal reasons that some sellers do not, can not, will not follow the advice of their agents. Sometimes it is simply because they believe they know better. Other times it is because of a much deeper reason that they may or may not share.
If a house is overpriced what responsibility does the agent bare? If I were to list an overpriced property it would be my fault also. Why blame it only on the seller? There have been listings I have passed up or not gotten because my assessment of value was different than the sellers. Other agents have come along and taken those listings at an unrealistic price. Let's share the blame when that happens.
One of the definitions of victim, according to Merriman-Webster Online Dictionary is:
One that is subjected to oppression, hardship, or mistreatment.
Are we to believe that no one has experienced, at the very least, some hardship during these trying economic times?
Do the many agents that have not survived in real estate during this down market fit your definition of victim?
Some of them fit the definition above. Some do not.
Without a doubt there were agents that have not survived because they did not learn how to succeed in a difficult market, others chose not to adapt to the changes, some because they did not recognize the seriousness and the extent of the downturn.
Others did not survive because their partners lost their job and it became necessary to take a job that provided a steady income with benefits or perhaps they experienced an illness or something else that prevented them from practicing real estate.
Some people are victims of this market and others are not.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Buying or selling at Lake Anna, VA or the surrounding area? Call Kate Elim at 540-226-1964 or e-mail at lakeanna.kate@gmail.com.
©Copyright Kate Elim 2011
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GET MOVING WITH KATE!
540-226-1964 cell
lakeanna-realestate.com (Blog)
I, personally, believe very few people are "victims" when it comes to foreclosures and short sales. They bought too much house than they could afford. They did it to themselves. They got greedy. And if they're unemployeed and can't find work, the local fast food restaurants and grocery stores are always hiring, so ends-meat can always be made by the ones who don't want to put the blame on others.
Kate
As you pointed out in your post, it's not so black and white. However, it is challenging how fiscally irresponsible a large number of people are that do make a lot of their own headaches, by wanting more than they can really afford, new cars, bigger houses and every item known to man.
I do remember my mortgage guy sharing with me that more than half the folks that drove cars over $50k really couldn't afford to own them. They just wanted to look or feel good.
However, we do certainly have a group of folks that lost jobs, got ill or other situations that were out of their control. I feel bad for these folks!
It's a tough one. All the best, Michelle
Hi Donna...How many are very few? How do you calculate the figures? Considering that there are millions of unemployed and many more millions underemployed I would say there are more people that have seen hardship then many of us would like to admit.
Buying a home that you could well afford when you were earning enough to be considered middle class does not sound greedy to me. Not many of these folks would be able to support their families on the income earned working in a fast food restaurant.
I am not referring to people that over extended themselves. These are not the only ones suffering now. If, at one time, you earned $40,000 or more and now earn $15,000 you probably wouldn't even be able to pay your utilities and eat let along pay your mortgage.
Kate
I think it is less important whether or not people were "victims" than what's next.
It seems that being a "victim" has become a reason to not take responsibility for
"what are you going to do now?"
Are you going to shout to the world that you were victimized and expect someone else to
"fix" it or are you going to take responsibility yourself for "what's next!"
Donna ... brutal comment.
There are some very valid points with regard to personal responsibility and I do believe one should own up to their role in their "perceived" victimization. I have a low tolerance for irresponsible behavior. However, we can't live in a world without compassion and empathy. I don't think we should hold so steadfastly to feelings of ill will and apparent hatred because people behave in a way that we can't see ourselves behaving. Overtime it hardens our hearts and we can become blind to the fact that we've lost our compassion and ability to emphathize (speaking from experience here). Glad my heart is pumping love.