Keep in mind if that happens than no one is safe. All the investments Garth told you to buy will be worthless and we can all line up at the soup kitchen together. These things need to work with some symmetry and as we have just seen if credit collapses so does your investment portfolio. Be careful what you wish for you just might get it.

Ideas are great so lets share them and raise public awareness. Real estate is not necessarily the evil that people are portraying here. Everything in moderation and with careful consideration and research and you will be in a safer position.
Listen to Garth’s points(very valid) and other industry people before considering your options. I respect Garth’s opinion but he has been wrong in the past like so many others and will continue to be going forward. Protect yourself and fill yourself with as much knowledge as possible so you are not putting all your decisions based on one advisor.

No, I am not throwing buns (although the visualization is quite humorous – might just try it next time I need to liven up a dull dinner party).

The first part of my comment to Greg (which was serious) was regarding the use of jargon in the sense that it distances people from the greater meaning behind the term.

I believe that this particular phrase “payment shock” minimizes the true implication to the consumer.

To clarify, I don’t dislike realtors. They market real estate, and like any other sales person, there are those who want to cultivate a loyal, long term clientele. Unfortunately, there are others who have a different set of ethics. Some of the work I did in my life involved marketing. This is why I raised the jargon issue. Internally, it works for many industries, however it’s not a good form of communication when dealing with the client.

The PS response was Greg’s words, not mine. I quoted him and reminded him that people were in fact giving him their views and opinions. Possibly not what he wanted or expected to hear, but such is the frontier of e-communication. We can’t see or hear the other person, nor does the communication flow with the normal speech/pause for questions/clarifications.

The PPS comment stemmed from Garth’s reference to buns being tossed at him during a luncheon speech he gave to a group of realtors. I thought “oh no, not another invite”. All good fun there and no bashing. Perhaps I watched too much Monty Python?

Thanks for the response.

Seems like you are throwing some buns of your own. Greg is not a realtor, however he is being attacked, as are realtors in general, as if they are the scum of the earth. There are good and bad people in every profession, it is unfare to lump them all into one category as many of Garth’s readers, and Garth himself tends to do.

Kind Regards,

Nolan Matthias