Whiskey and Gunpowder is a free, twice-per-week, e-mail service brought to you by a team of rebellious brigands. Greg’s note: Mish just sent me another article about [tag]housing[/tag]. “Well, it’s not really about housing,” he said. “It’s about customers.” “[tag]Customers[/tag]?” I asked. It seems Mish is looking at the [tag]mortgage origination[/tag] and [tag]real estate sales[/tag] businesses and wondering what [tag]brokers and loan officers[/tag] are doing to get and keep customers. “Oh, so it is about housing, then,” I said. “No,” Mish replied. “It actually has very little to do with real estate. It has to do with customers. Everyone has customers. You don’t have to be in sales, either, but you better be taking care of them.”

FOR SEVERAL MONTHS now, I have been talking with Mike Morgan/Morgan Florida, a real estate broker serving the Treasure Coast area of Florida. In our most recent conversation, Morgan tells me, “Prices have already fallen 10%, regardless of what median prices show. In addition, transaction volumes have fallen off the cliff.” Unlike other brokers I have talked to, Morgan is expecting “further declines in the neighborhood of 20% or so, more on condos.” He is advising his clients that “the market has changed and that sellers must accept that reality if they want to get their house sold.” Realtors openly telling their clients to expect substantial further declines simply is not the norm. Back in January and February, Morgan said, “Centex was so desperate to close deals before their March 31 fiscal year end they were offering $60,000 select home sites that were not selling well. But that is just the start of it. Centex was also offering 6% commissions to the agency booking the sale, plus an additional $10,000 selling bonus to top it off.”

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