Financial Armageddon!!

[Chris W]

So many crooks! All so intensely focused on making money they'll do anything.

The banks, the mortgage brokers, the ratings companies, the auditors, the stockbrokers. They're all guilty, and it will still be going on.

Davo36

I'm sure you could tell us some stories about those in the real estate game - real estate agents, property mentors, etc

[Davo36]

Real estate agents are in fact some of the most honest people I have ever met.

The public at large, by contrast, are not. Dealt with so many dodgy people wanting to buy or sell property.

I don't like property mentors much. They make their money from the high fees, not really from property.

[Perry]

Nuff said?

Real estate agents are in fact some of the most honest people I have ever met.

Interesting. What percentage of the scumbags reported in the media are representative, David?

Or is it just that things were better, back when you were involved?

Real estate agent fined $5000 for not revealing apartment block's 'serious defects'

Nelson real estate agent fined $10,000 for 'seriously negligent' conduct

Struck-off real estate agent has High Court appeal dismissed

Real Estate Agent Ethical Issues

Property Management incompetence

Real estate agent entered property without consent, made tenants' beds

Real estate agent tied to fraudster admits dodgy property deals

Agent must pay $13,000 after misappropriating deposit funds

Real estate agent Chris Gollins fined $10,000

Agent loses licence after sleeping and showering at listed property

Real estate boss in leaky home drama leaves job

What was advertised as 'a little starter lifestyle' did not live up to sales pitch

[Chris W]

Also heard of an overseas based NZ citizen who sold his residential property in Mt Eden.

They returned to NZ, on the day before settlement, and they went to inspect the vacant residential property unit to ensure that all was adequate for settlement and title transfer.

He found that there were personal possessions inside the property unit, and met the new tenants.

After discussion with their real estate agent, it was discovered that the real estate agent representing the buyer had taken the keys and passed them to the buyer well before settlement date. The buyer had meanwhile rented out the unit (effective on settlement date) but had also given the keys to the new tenant to move in beforehand.

To my knowledge, there was no official complaint of this to the real estate industry body to report the actions of the real estate agent.

[Don't believe the Hype]

Interesting. What percentage of the scumbags reported in the media are representative, David?

Or is it just that things were better, back when you were involved?

Real estate agent fined $5000 for not revealing apartment block's 'serious defects'

Nelson real estate agent fined $10,000 for 'seriously negligent' conduct

Struck-off real estate agent has High Court appeal dismissed

Real Estate Agent Ethical Issues

Property Management incompetence

Real estate agent entered property without consent, made tenants' beds

Real estate agent tied to fraudster admits dodgy property deals

Agent must pay $13,000 after misappropriating deposit funds

Real estate agent Chris Gollins fined $10,000

Agent loses licence after sleeping and showering at listed property

Real estate boss in leaky home drama leaves job

What was advertised as 'a little starter lifestyle' did not live up to sales pitch

perry - do you think you could link to the articles where a RE has done something good for someone? Or does the news not publish those things?

i guess if it doesn’t make the high quality news publications of NZ then it didn’t happen.

[Davo36]

perry - do you think you could link to the articles where a RE has done something good for someone? Or does the news not publish those things?

i guess if it doesn’t make the high quality news publications of NZ then it didn’t happen.

Exactly, we only hear about it when something goes wrong.

Bit like the police, they have tens of thousands of interactions with the public. And probably 99% of them go well. But we hear about the 1% where things didn't go well.

Most agents are totally ethical, but of course there's a few scumbags in every industry. Lawyers have more of the toerags amongst their ranks than RE agents. Plenty of accountants who steal their clients money too.

There are tradies who take people's money and then don't turn up to do the work. There are people on TradeMe who sell fake goods...

So do you think concreting contractors or online retailers are in general 'dodgy'? No.

[Davo36]

Also heard of an overseas based NZ citizen who sold his residential property in Mt Eden.

They returned to NZ, on the day before settlement, and they went to inspect the vacant residential property unit to ensure that all was adequate for settlement and title transfer.

He found that there were personal possessions inside the property unit, and met the new tenants.

After discussion with their real estate agent, it was discovered that the real estate agent representing the buyer had taken the keys and passed them to the buyer well before settlement date. The buyer had meanwhile rented out the unit (effective on settlement date) but had also given the keys to the new tenant to move in beforehand.

To my knowledge, there was no official complaint of this to the real estate industry body to report the actions of the real estate agent.

One third hand account. An anecdote.

Even if it's correct, so what? Doesn't mean every other agent out there is unethical.

What profession are you in Chris W?

[Davo36]

I should add, that if you want to find an unscrupulous, unethical industry, look into banking.

They are the biggest crooks by far.

[Perry]

perry - do you think you could link to the articles where a RE has done something good for someone? Or does the news not publish those things?

i guess if it doesn’t make the high quality news publications of NZ then it didn’t happen.

Generally, there is no money is good news.

But we should take some heart from that.

It means that good is the normal - so not news.

David is also correct that the larger percentage of most professions are O.K.

There are some scumbags at the top, but, when front-line staff are included, I'd even say that about banking..

[Simmo]

I should add, that if you want to find an unscrupulous, unethical industry, look into banking.

They are the biggest crooks by far.

+1

Followed closely by the insurance industry IMO.

[Chris W]

One third hand account. An anecdote.

Even if it's correct, so what? Doesn't mean every other agent out there is unethical.

Davo36,

This is an anecdotal story which happened to a very close family relative. You're right that not all agents are unethical, there will be some good agents out there. It's all a case of financial incentives that drive behaviour.

[Don't believe the Hype]

+1

Followed closely by the insurance industry IMO.

Roman catholic priests would have to rank highly on this list too i would imagine

[OnTheMove]

NZ and Aus have not been doing the old cyclic currency up and down that use to be so easy to read along with Telecoms shares which seemed to follow the same pattern.

With NZ so heavily in debt due to borrowing so heavily during the GFC, then people thinking that means we could just create another property spike and borrow heavily.

What is it going to take to burst these 2 lending double bubbles ? Who did we borrow from, the Crown? Are they likely to want recall any time soon?

I read it as over $280 million debt.

For a small economy thats a daunting red.

I have reserve bank lending/debt circa $430 billion. That makes our international debt look minuscule. So we/reserve bank are printing money if our economy dives basically?

So Crown debt isnt really that large, its there and probably 1/5th the gdp (dont quote me, Im trying to get my head around this). But the reserve bank debt is nearing half a Trillion. That is scary.

So if our economy takes a dive, unemployment rises which dominos foreclosures on the reserve bank debts, which potentially could see massive interest rate rises which would further foreclosures.

Uggh im not an economist and not pretending to be, just trying to understand where the threat lies and to me the reserve bank lending is a time bomb waiting for the fuse to be lit......

Dont quote me, not an economist, but in laymen it dont look flash. Private debt levels and unavoidable interest rate rises are the bomb. At what point do people who borrow $700k on $140k combined income start to panic? 7%? 8%? I miss the good old days of 16% now that would be foreclosure city. All our housing would be owned by the reserve bank hahahaha

[Perry]

I read it as over $280 million debt.

Billion or million?

Uggh im not an economist and not pretending to be . . .

Don't worry - most self-styled econ-o-mists are only pretenders.

[Perry]

Six and a Half Years Later

From 24 August 2013.

Red type is my emphasis.

Exnzpat had "hard evidence."

Anyone seen it?

Original post here.

Of course, you know "economic disaster ahead" has been my mantra all along. And slowly the pundits are catching up with me, citing things like income to home price parity, rising NZ dollar or any of the host of other things I’ve suggested here on this board over the years. But no one listens. They hear only what they want to hear--and that's fine. I've come to grips with it.

Finally, I’ve got hard evidence the fact. And so, despite what you may think, here it comes…. So hold on to your hats. The money train is about to grind to a lumbering halt in New Zealand (something it should have done in 2008 or 2009, in my opinion), so it’s long overdue.

I expect a mass exodus of the population to find work. I expect to see mass default on mortgages and a crash in the New Zealand dollar. Also, I expect interest rates fall (which will be good for those of us who have hung-in there all this time). Dogs will bark in empty streets and babies will cry. Tumbleweeds will tumble, testament to the terrible times ahead...