Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
Although these sites are not growing as quickly as they might have during a bullish market, they are at least growing.“In September, we thought it was maybe the beginning of a very long downturn,” said Glenn Kelman, Redfin’s chief executive. “But for whatever reason, the last few months have been very strong for us.”
Executives of Trulia, Zillow and Terabitz said they, too, were encouraged by recent results. Online real estate companies, they added, could be today’s version of the online travel agencies that flourished after the Sept. 11 attacks: a cheap alternative for suppliers looking to market a product that is suddenly in low demand.
We still have the ridiculous realtor-written optimistic articles in the local paper telling people that prices have "bottomed out" (they have at least finally given-up on the "we will have a pause, but not price reductions" schitk).
In the mean time, at least some condos listed at $200,000+ are going at auction at $100,000 and less. Two years ago, there was NO hole-in-the-wall in San Diego you could buy for anything close to $100,000.
I'd pay attention to magazines like The Economist, which has been right (though premature) about the U.S. housing market all along than to industry insiders who have incentive to talk around the rough points.
I suppose there's an appeal to online real estate agents. I'd imagine they are less likely to confront sellers with harsh realities. It's cheap to list online, so why not let them post unrealistic offers?
