Bum Rap Against Realty Agents, Sellers

I am writing in response to the letter by T. J. Richards (Dec. 23).

To call either sellers or real estate agents “greedy” is absurd. The buyers are the people who set the final price by agreeing with the seller. Prices will rise on real estate through supply and demand. In 1988, for example, it was shocking to see three and four buyers bidding against each other for a house. It was the buyers who made offers above the seller’s asking price.

The real estate agents priced the house according to the existing and past performance of a neighborhood. I have been licensed for 14 years and I would be foolish to encourage a seller to accept an offer that did not provide the benefits desired from the sale.

Furthermore, Richards can probably purchase a property with the buying power of his income. Perhaps he or she has not saved and instead is the one with the fancy car and vacations. Maybe the neighborhoods that are affordable are beneath him. Possibly there are credit problems or a desire to wait until prices plummet.

Blaming the sellers or real estate brokers is only a means of denying the truth. There is a house for everyone. It may not be the ultimate dream house, but a steppingstone into home ownership. Moreover, there are always multiunit properties and condominiums for those who cannot achieve single-home ownership at this time. If he didn’t hate real estate agents so much he might find that by working with one he would own a house by now.

GARY WALLACE, Los Angeles