The standard disclaimer when Patch Tuesday writes a letter: The views expressed are my own opinions and have nothing to do with the Bay Net.
It’s not often, that you will hear me say something nice about Real Estate Agents, and there’s a reason for that, you see, I’m the Devil’s Advocate of the real estate industry. It’s a self appointed job, and I didn’t have to win any elections to get the title. It also doesn’t pay well; in fact the pay on average is twenty five cents per day from the Google ads on my Blog! As luck may have it, today is not an ordinary day, because I actually have some nice words for a few of the local real estate agents. The truth is; the honesty and opinions of Southern Maryland’s Guldi Real Estate Team (Chris and Sara) has been growing on me. I was so impressed by an article that Chris recently wrote, that it inspired me to write this letter. I’m going to name this letter: “My report card for the local real estate industry.”
Most people that have read my etters/articles would conclude that I simply do not like or trust Real Estate Agents. That’s actually not the case at all. My controversial articles are written solely to give the public and the real estate industry an inside point of view based on what a potential home buyer sitting on the sidelines of a chaotic real estate market sees going on in Southern Maryland. For those that haven’t read my previous letters, I’ll let you in on the list of things that I see taking place that I think negatively of. Insider Trading – I don’t agree with real estate agents buying and selling properties themselves. I believe they have too much inside information about the market conditions, and about the buyers and the properties; not to mention they are the first people to know what has just came on the market before the public ever sees it. The Government does not let Wall Street behave in this manner, and I disagree with real estate agents being allowed to do it (Think Martha Stewart in handcuffs).
Further into this same pet peeve, I highly detest this being done in poor neighborhoods. As the tide came in during the real estate boom, theoretically all boats should have risen. A review of the tax records will clearly show that did not happen. All too often, a real estate agent, or an investor with the help of a real estate agent, went into the poor neighborhoods and bought up properties from unknowledgeable sellers and resold the properties at very high markups. And, they used the profits that people like you gave them to do it with!
The Maryland Property Tax Records – These records themselves bring up a very interesting subject that deserves mentioning before we continue. There is nothing private about buying or selling real estate, or about how much you bought or sold it for. When I write something, I like to be able to back it up with facts, and unfortunately for the Buyers and Sellers involved, those facts are frequently the Tax Records. But before you label me as a terrible privacy villain that puts names and addresses on the Internet, I would suggest you focus your wrath on the State of Maryland instead. You see, the entire tax database with everyone’s names and addresses is for sale to anyone that’s willing to buy it! That’s right, you can buy the entire thing from the state, or if you’re willing to read line by line like I do, then you can do it for free. I don’t think the state should sell the data, or host paid advertising on the records pages, but I do agree with making it public to keep people honest.
That said, if you disagree with something I write, then please back it up with your own verifiable facts and statistics, and don’t just post a comment saying “you’re simply incorrect!” (Hello again Duke).
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