Buyers: WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!

A few months ago, Sacramento real estate agent Jimmy Castro urged "investors" not to "dump" their properties. Now he has shifted tactics and is addressing potential buyers:

For today's home buyer, the question will come up at some point -- should I wait to purchase? Will the home prices drop? Will they escalate more? Will interest rates increase?

These are all very valid concerns, so I'm not going to waive them off, point to historic appreciation of real estate overall, and tell such a buyer to just dive in. Nevertheless, there are several other reasons why the ownership of real estate, despite the market, is a wise move. [Read more]

Perhaps many potential buyers have deaf ears like this man:

For months, Los Angeles-based aerospace consultant Doug Roberts has stewed over a real estate deal that went sour last November. It was bad enough that the seller first accepted but then rejected his full-price offer of $699,000 for the modest three-bedroom house near the airport, Roberts says, but even worse that the busy Realtor he was working with took three weeks to call him back to break the bad news.

"I was in limbo for almost a month, not knowing whether I had a deal or not," Roberts says. "The seller was a real jerk, and the agent wasn't any better."

But Roberts' anger turned into laughter last week, when the same Realtor he finally fired last December called to say that the previous deal with the other buyer had fallen apart and the house is now back on the market -- for $50,000 less than he offered to pay last fall.

Despite the price reduction, Roberts isn't biting. "I told the Realtor to get lost, and I told her to tell the seller the same thing," he says. "They treated me like garbage when the market was strong, but now it's a different story that sales are tanking.

"A year from now, that same house is probably going to be worth $200,000 less and the agent will be working at McDonalds."