Aging Realtors and FHA Flop

There are several concerns in real estate today, none to do with the fantastic availability of money for loans at ridiculously low rates:  3.375% for 30 years and 2.75 for 15 years.  This makes buying a house so much cheaper than buying a car or using your credit cards.

But one of the concerns in real estate is that the average realtor is 56 years old, where the average in other industries is 42.  Why is that a concern?  As older realtors retire, the brain drain is critical.  The experienced older realtor knows so much about what to expect in a real estate deal, how to put it together, where to get the $$$, and so many things that help the consumer.  Getting younger realtors trained in time to replace all these experienced realtors could be hard.  On HGTV you see realtor shows with the younger ones, and I think from my opinion you see greed, underhanded dealing, lack of morals, and not the professionalism I see daily among the older realtors. 

We need to train realtors to put the customer first, not their pocketbook or their career.  Reputation, integrity, knowledge, and honesty need to be at the forefront of a career in real estate.

Another problem in real estate right now from the broker's opinion survey was that they can't recruit enough realtors, or get good ones.  Again, they mention the younger generation having a problem with training and going where the $$ is. 

FHA loans are a slight problem, due to the increase in the mortgage insurance costs back in April, more and more people are choosing to go conventional.  That's not a real problem, now that you can get 5% down money with conventional loans, but it is a change from earlier in the year when most everyone was using FHA (at least here locally).  It's just as cheap to go conventional now once you add in the upfront money insurance costs, and it's easier with less restrictions. 

Now is the time to purchase a home since the rates are so low, money is available, and there's no shortage of homes on the market.  It's the time to sell also if you plan to in the near future, as a shadow of repossessed homes will soon be on the market, lowering the value of your home, so now is the perfect time to buy or sell.  We don't know what we'll see once this election is over, so don't waste the next two months on the sidelines.  Now is the time to make your real estate transactions while all the ducks are in a good row, easy for shooting.