Realtors must shoulder some blame for the current crisis

Editor,
 
Let me start by saying I do not do sales. I have been in the industry almost 30 years as a residential property manager.

I am so tired of reading sales agents complain that the banks are slowing the process down; appraisals are slow and coming back with lower values than expected. We are pointing fingers at everyone else because we’re supposed to have ethics and true knowledge of the marketplace.
 
No one was complaining when banks were making loans to people who would not qualify in a real marketplace; to 85-year olds or, in rare cases, even dead people. There were some cases with a double closing the same day on the same house, with the later price thousands of dollars more than the first closing price.

Our industry was just as greedy as the other players. Stop blaming everyone else for the problems we are having today – we helped create them.
 
Real estate was an investment that held the future and strength of our economy, we said. A person could invest in a home; it would be a safe haven for raising a family, and then become part of a retirement program as its value rose over time. But much of America is upside down with property values that keep dropping.

As an industry, we sold it to our clients and told them that the prices and value would just keep going up. We, as professionals, knew it would not; but we lied for that almighty commission and sold out our own industry!
 
Now we complain. Let’s look in the mirror and understand that we cashed in by profiteering instead of holding to our code of ethics.
 
Kym A. Ottaviani
Rex Rentals & Realty Inc.
St. Petersburg