The realtors are desperate

I considered this message borderline fraud from a realtor who has been bugging me for months after I decided now was a BAD time to buy. I get at least 1 call a day from this person, who won't take no for an answer.

The individual was particularly pissed off when, after assuring me that there's no way the market could decline further, got a chuckle from me.

The e-mail below was forwarded to me as "proof" that housing prices weren't going to decline further and that anyone who disagreed was "uninformed." I responded with an offer to immediately purchase a home in my price range if the real estate agent or Coldwell Banker would back up their "assurance guarantee" of no declines with liquid assets in the amount of the original purchase price -- or failing that, insurance against depreciation purchased from a solvent insurer, or, failing that, pledging their own cash flow and assets as collateral to guarantee the promise. When I received a shocked "no," I then noted that if everything was hunky dory and housing prices and sales were strong, why they were spending so much time and money trying to convince a difficult customer like me to pay asking price on houses that have sat on the market for five months, only to be relisted.

I *finally* got the RE agent to leave me alone.

Anyway, for your reading pleasure, the latest hilarity from the bubble-riders who want to put down the equivalent of a new Rolls Royce as a down payment and then borrow 7x my annual earnings to buy a crappy 30-year-old 2 BR condo on a fault line -- all the while insisting it's "bargain priced. . . "

How could the American public have been so hoodwinked?!?

Cheers,

Brian