Ben Nicolas

This is a good article, I don't think we are limiting access to customers properties by only allowing actual real estate companies to post listings. If our industry cut off these 3rd party sites they would just become brokers (a la redfin) and the industry may complain even more about the increased competition... M. Ben Nicolas IET Real Estate Los Angeles www.ietrealestate.com

This is a great idea, you have to do something for people and the lawyers to stop taking advantage of the system. Accountability in the United States of America? What a novel concept... If consumers are getting hit in the wallet up front they will probably ask their politicians to make adjustments to the foreclosure process so that they can minimize the expense. Obviously they'll want to keep certain protections so that you don't lose your house after a couple missed payments but the market should be able to find an equilibrium that works well for both lenders against deadbeat brwrs and ambulance unethical attorneys and brwrs against lenders charging exorbitant fees. M. Ben Nicolas IET Real Estate Los Angeles www.ietrealestate.com

This whole HVCC thing is going to be a huge problem for the market once the overall economy and jobs situation improves. Nobody realizes it now because of the "downward bias" you mention here but the way the discount rate amc appraisers determine value it would be theoretically impossible for prices to ever rise (unless buyers pay the difference out of their pocket) M. Ben Nicolas IET Real Estate Los Angeles www.ietrealestate.com