Realtor Rubbish

From the Baltimore Sun, we have Lorraine Mirabella writing about Realtor ads for slower market.

That's the point of a more than $40 million advertising blitz launched yesterday by the National Association of Realtors.

Market conditions have never aligned so perfectly as they are right now, the trade group says in full-page newspaper ads running the next two weekends.

"It's a great time to buy or sell a home," proclaim the ads.

Wow! This is priceless.

It's a great time to buy, AND a great time to sell?

That's mathematically impossible. All transactions are zero-sum. One party must lose financially because in the outcome following the transaction either prices go up or down.

In fact it's worse. It's actually negative-sum because of transaction costs. (Think brokerage fee for stocks, or realtors commissions for real-estate.)

And, since Realtors(TM) survive on transactions, it's in their interest to have as many as possible. What's more they are experiencing extreme competition from online sources, and just like travel agents (remember them?) they are going to go the way of the dodo.

No wonder they're urging on the Greatest Fools.

If you want to see the stupid AD, here it is: link. (Warning: Large PDF.)

This is a flat out sign of extreme desperation!