Letter to the Editor: Lingering Flaws in Real Estate

To the Editor:

While "Two Steps to Stop Bleeding in Housing" [Viewpoints, Feb. 25] offered some interesting ideas for making mortgages more profitable, but the author's line of thinking continues the presumption that the real estate market is somehow fundamentally OK when the opposite has been and could remain the case.

As long as pricing remains purely speculative — based upon seller- or government-controlled "asking prices" — opaqueness and vacant inventory blight will accrue to future ownership or property investment.

A more fundamental emphasis, beyond how to have lending be profitable, should be on confronting conventional practices that promote speculation over competition, transparency, and stewardship — not to mention more transaction efficiency and certainty. These are the systemic practices that have proven themselves unsustainable, regardless of the availability or cost of credit.Dean Williams
chief executive officer
Williams & Williams, TulsaEditor's Note: Williams & Williams is a real estate auction firm.