Ladies and Gents I present to you today's clueless real estate agent:

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (AP) -- By late Saturday afternoon, only three prospective homebuyers had visited the open house Valerie Morrill was hosting. The Prudential real estate agent recalled a year ago, she'd see 10 to 15 people during an open house in this midtown Kansas City neighborhood. She said the government's efforts to bring stability back to the economy and the credit markets may help but she's seen no immediate improvement.

"It's just the buyer pool is so low," she lamented. "Eighteen months ago, you needed $500 to buy a house." Now, all the special rates and government programs are gone, leaving buyers facing a 10 percent down payment. "You have to have money and nobody has money."

Oh I see. So we should go back to the days when you needed $500 to buy a $500,000 house. Because doing so worked so darned well. I mean, come on. It is so unrealistic to expect, you know, people to have like down payments and stuff. Talk about 1993 here people! And yet imbeciles like this are touted on the nightly news as experts on real estate.

It gets better

"We are seeing buyers. The interest is there. But people have problems," said Marc Montalvo, who is trying to sell a house in Hollywood, Fla., that he bought as an investment in June and fixed up. "They can't qualify for the mortgage. Or they need to sell their home before they can buy another, but that house isn't selling. Or they have been through foreclosure. We try to work with people because we want someone in the house."

"People want to buy. The problem is you can't get them qualified for financing because the lenders have tightened up so much that only people with the highest credit ratings get approved," Montalvo said. "We haven't seen the interest rates fall and the qualifications become more realistic."

Wrong dumbass. People can't qualify because prices are still too high. The so called tightened lending is only going back to what was normal 10 years ago. A downpayment, good credit and a reasonable debt to income ratio. Which means someone making $40K can qualify for a $150K home. Not a $500K home. And even for the $150K home he'll need a couple of dollars as a downpayment.

These people make used car salesmen look smart and ethical.