Bill (last name undisclosed on request) and his wife are looking for a home in Westchester County, New York. Like many buyers, he's not signing on the dotted line, waiting for the market to turn a little bit more in his favor. If he has his way, sellers won't be able to unload dilapidated homes on buyers at 100 percent profits any longer.

"We’ve seen many houses over the past two years where the price is double what the seller paid for it less than 5 years ago," says Bill. "More often than not, the houses are in sad shape, and they have done *nothing* to add any value to them. In fact, they rarely even take the time to clean it up before showing it, simply because inventory is low and they feel they can get away with it."

Bill took issue with Realty Times when it published "Don't Let Buyers Drag The Market Down Without A Fight", and was offended by this comment:

Her (the seller's) point wasn't just that the buyers weren't buying her home, they aren't buying anything as long as they are being driven around by buyers' agents who are willing to indulge their objections house after house. The buyers' agents aren't helping them avoid a bad purchase, as one Realtor wrote, they are helping them avoid buying anything, and that's not good for anyone - sellers, buyers or Realtors.

"Indulge our objections house after house? My dear lady, despite talk of housing being more affordable than ever, in our neck of the woods (Westchester County, NY, and thereabouts) it has become prohibitively expensive for first-time buyers without any special advantages (monetary gifts, or profits from criminal enterprises for example)," says Bill, "The low interest rates have driven prices through the roof. Local governments have caught on and jacked up real estate taxes to the point where we would need another income just to pay them. What we will get for such financial precariousness is not very pretty. Knowing this, we are perfectly capable of avoiding a bad purchase without anybody’s help. In addition, please forgive us if what is bad for real estate agents and what is bad for sellers is not particularly at the top of our list of concerns."

Bill did agree with this statement:

Agents who choose to work with buyers are going to spend some time driving with their clients, but a lot of time can be saved if they will simply take the trouble to preview homes in the neighborhood.

"There is only one problem," he says. "None of the homes our beleaguered buyer’s agent has previewed meet our needs, and she knows it, but given what is available she is doing the best she can to find something we can live with. This is like finding a needle in a haystack, and we truly appreciate her patience and professionalism. She is a rare gem who really would like us to find something we’re ok with. These are admirable traits indeed these days in a market where everyone and their mother has gone out and gotten their real estate license, and exhibits arrogance beyond belief."

If the buyer is expecting perfection in a 50-year-old neighborhood of tract homes, then clearly the buyer's agent hasn't communicated well enough with the buyer.

"We are not expecting perfection," rejoins Bill. "We are expecting to pay prices that are rational, regardless of current interest rates. The more irrational the price, the more perfection we will demand."

If the objections aren't serious, then the buyer's agent needs to sit down immediately with the buyer and find out if they have a serious buyer. Find out what is keeping the buyer from making offers.

"We have always been quite serious about buying our first house," says Bill. "Despite the beating we took in the stock market (thank you WorldCom, Enron, Tyco, Jack Grubman, etc….), we still managed to accumulate over $200,000 for a down payment, in addition to the full equity of our small apartment, which we own free and clear. We live in a one bedroom apartment we managed to purchase when we got married and had just started out 8 years ago. It was in terrible condition, and we gutted it from top to bottom and renovated it ourselves every night after coming home from work. When we ripped out the bathroom, we had to live out of her parent’s basement ‘till we were done. We know from experience what it takes to fix a fixer. Although we technically own something, it has not appreciated significantly (maybe $30K) to make a dent in what it costs to buy a house around here, so we still consider ourselves first-time buyers."

"What is keeping us from making offers?" The following:

• The median price of a home around here has risen to $525,000 in only a few short years, despite the fact that my income has decreased 3 years in a row. The sellers often wouldn’t even be able to afford their own houses if they were buying now.
• Real estate taxes are over $10,000 and climbing rapidly
• Homes in the median range are in lousy school districts
• Homes in the median range are typically occupied by people who have lived in them for years who have done little to maintain or enhance them. The houses are dreary, dark, musty, dumps with small rooms, low ceilings, and tiny lots, and they need thousands of dollars, and hours of sweat equity to rehabilitate. When you already are working 65 hours a week, you have little time or energy left to rip out crumbling plaster walls, falling bathroom tiles, and leaky oil tanks. Forget about hiring contractors---we’d have no money left after covering normal monthly expenses to pay them.
• Other expenses such commuting costs are rising rapidly (Over $200 a month for one person to take the train and park at the station).

A buyer's agent who says the following to a buyer is doing the buyer a service as a client: "If you want to be in this neighborhood, any home in this neighborhood is going to have problems, and you should expect that in this price range. It's a matter of which problems you are willing to overlook and which you are willing to fix. If you don't want to fix anything, then your choice is either to offer less, or pay more to a seller with a more perfect home. If you like everything about this home except the paint color, let's find out what the seller is willing to do with an offer. If you don't like the home, let's move on to homes that have more of what you want, but be prepared to offer more for such homes."

"Sorry, we need a house around here that is habitable and is a nice place for our beautiful 10-month-old daughter to grow up in," says Bill, "but we’re afraid we can’t afford to pay any more for it. We can’t relocate someplace cheaper because of the weak job market.

A dose of reality is a kindness to the buyer. No real buyer wants to waste time in pursuit of an unrealistic goal, any more than sellers want their time wasted with lookie-loos instead of buyers. And agents shouldn't want to waste their time with buyers who don't understand the market or how much home their money can truly buy. Interest rates won't stay low forever, and it is seldom that low interest rates are combined with low housing prices.

"It is the real estate industry that needs a dose of reality," says Bill, "if it thinks the current pricing trend can last forever. First-time buyers understand this market quite well, thank you, and we’re struggling. We also know that as soon as interest rates start climbing again we are likely to be stuck in these crappy houses for a long time if we buy one. A house is a huge purchase, and is more financially risky than ever for the first-time buyer. We lookie-loos have a right to look at as many houses as we feel like, and if the real estate industry doesn’t like it, that’s just too bad.

"Meanwhile we still pay the price. We’re house-poor without even owning a house, and we are missing out on the best years of our lives."

As a parting shot, Bill shares something he found on the Internet that was written by an anonymous 30-something fellow in Boston. Unfortunately, we are unable to credit the author:

Such a gloomy place with creaking floors and peeling paint over fractured walls.

Lisa looks at me with her big brown eyes while i shake my head as i think of a grim life ahead.

We spent four months arguing every Sunday morning, looking at the real-estate section and a firefight would erupt.

My side would launch a barrage of numbers, a cash flow study of our lives: day care, car costs, savings and retirement.

Lisa?

Can you understand?

We want kids, right?

Lisa's big brown eyes would turn glassy, her voice would choke up. You don't understand, she said. I grew up here, my family is here.

We would volley shots across.

Her side: We can buy something small.

My side: A family needs space.

Her side: We can move up in size.

My side: More space is more money.

Her side: We'll make more money.

My side: How can we make enough money?

Her side: Prices will fall.

My side: If they do, we'll still be in trouble.

Her side: No, we can buy something bigger.

My side: No, now we owe the bank.

Her side: We can rent.

My side: How long do you want to rent?

Her side: Till we can buy.

My side: Are you ready to wait?

The sales agent took us down the street, house after house, side by side, packed in tight, one window looking into the next, a sliver of light between them.

We parked the car and walked out, the agent went through the stats: two bedrooms, one bath, oil heat.

It was old and plain -no porch, no yard, no trees.

As soon as the agent opened the door, the musty smell of mold spores and rot. The walls had been taped with duct tape, then painted over. The roof leaked into the bedroom, the bedroom leaked onto the kitchen.

I asked the agent, Does the house come with Prozac?

She laughed and said, You would be surprised how fast this house will sell.

It did sell. Someone bought it.

Someone just like us.