Negative Media Coverage

[Gary727]

Yes the market is in a correction. What is hurting more is the negative coverage by the media. I just heard an interview where they said "it is a bad time to buy a house". What I see is a buyers market! What a time for first time homebuyers to take advantage. If the media would stop causing frenzy's and scare tactics we would be better off.

[IggysListing]

Thank you!
I also have been addressing this subject.
Is anyone trying to sell you something?
The answer is yes.
Negative news sells more of everything and the media gets into
a feeding frenzy with it.
I am going to pick on AOL for a second, but they are only one of hundreds
of this example.
They constantly flash negative overly generalized "info" about real estate
and guess what. When you click on the item, they have a solution for
you.
I constantly refer to "1984" by George Orwell. In the novel, it was the
government that brainwashed citizens through broadcasts and a video
screen. Today, in reality, the public is brainwashed by companies
broadcasting data that shapes the public's perception of reality.
Part of the job of real estate professionals is to educate the public.
I see this forum as one of the avenues to do this. However, as a whole,
I believe that the real estate industry does a really poor job of this.
One more thought.
It is a well known fact that if something is repeated often enough, it
becomes the "truth". Joseph Goebbels of Nazi Germany had the philosophy
that if you are going to tell a lie, tell a big one. Big lies are more
readily believed. This is scary stuff.

[Home-Flip.com]

Right now is the best time to buy!! You can finnagle with the seller, making them pay closing and for repairs. You can get so many perks from buying at a time like this!! In Port St. Lucie, FL we bought a house a little over 3 yrs. ago while the market was steadily booming... Our house is worth the same price now as it was when we bought it!! The value has dropped by $80,000, So I would say it is a great time to buy a house!!

Julie Rodriguez, MBA

[Greg]

If it doesn't bleed it doesn't lead. That is the reality of the news media, get used to it.

I didn't hear anybody complaining when the news media drove the real estate market into an unrealistic, dangerous, overinflated, unmaintainable buyer's frenzy. Now we are paying the price for that bloated market.

[IggysListing]

There can only be a few places, currently, where the market is bloated.
People are still moving into the US and are being born.
Of course there are some areas where people will be exiting due to jobs,
weather, etc.
Some people now are panicking because of perceptions. Once again,
they get their info from the "news" media and other naysayers.
I fault the real estate industry for a minimul effort to educate the public
and in many cases buying into the malaise.
The country is growing, people still need housing and houses will continue
to be bought and sold.
We are still the envy of much of the world and we have the real estate.

[Home-Flip.com]

Iggy you are right! People are buying/ selling based on the media!!

[Greg]

By bloated I was referring to the prices not the inventory. As long as we keep having babies there will be buyers for real estate, the problem will be with affordability.

[IggysListing]

The affordability question is an interesting one. My first house that
I bought, circa 1972, cost $ 18,750 in an average neighborhood
in Greensboro, NC. Now the average car costs more than that.
As prices kept going up, I kept wondering if people would pay the
prices and sure enough they did.
Something interesting is about to occur and that is the aging of baby
boomers, retiring to other places, downsizing and eventually transferring
wealth to their kids. Of course the greatest generation has been doing
that. However, because of the shear numbers of baby boomers, it will
be interesting to watch the ripple effect and when it will significantly
kick in.

[Greg]

Along the same lines when the baby boomers die off there will be a surplus of housing. The numbers don't match up.

[IggysListing]

Not sure about that Greg. The country is still growing. There are definitely
regional changes in supply and demand. I believe some regions will have
a surplus.

[Codythebest]

Right now is the best time to buy!! You can finnagle with the seller, making them pay closing and for repairs. You can get so many perks from buying at a time like this!! In Port St. Lucie, FL we bought a house a little over 3 yrs. ago while the market was steadily booming... Our house is worth the same price now as it was when we bought it!! The value has dropped by $80,000, So I would say it is a great time to buy a house!!

Julie Rodriguez, MBA

I disagree. Best tiem will be about 2008. Everybody can just feel it...
Beside, it's true that I have seen medias saying " buy now and you will lose money by next year"...

[Hannigan]

Yes the market is in a correction. What is hurting more is the negative coverage by the media. I just heard an interview where they said "it is a bad time to buy a house". What I see is a buyers market! What a time for first time homebuyers to take advantage. If the media would stop causing frenzy's and scare tactics we would be better off. The media? Those folks on TV, the web, radio, snail mail, and popups who tell me bad credit isn't a problem? Pay bills! Take a vacation! Lock in now before rates go up! Those media?

[IggysListing]

Yes the market is in a correction. What is hurting more is the negative coverage by the media. I just heard an interview where they said "it is a bad time to buy a house". What I see is a buyers market! What a time for first time homebuyers to take advantage. If the media would stop causing frenzy's and scare tactics we would be better off.

Gary727 is 100% right.
I have been watching this play out for many months on AOL, tv news,
the internet. Of course there are some people in desperate straits and
I do empathize with them. However, read Kenneth Harney's recent article
concerning the reality of the mortgage market, interest rates, etc. and
consider the following:
There is no such thing as a universal buyer's market.
Mortgage money is plentiful.
The general public is unaware about the truth concerning mortgage
availability.
The market for shaky loans has subsided and never should have existed.
Underwriting standards have tightened. So what! They needed to. This
will help the market going forward.
Get a grip everybody! Let's move forward and wade out of the media
induced stupor.

[Hannigan]

The general public is unaware about the truth concerning mortgage availability Everybody is unaware about the truth concerning tranched-out collateralized debt obligations, including the investment bankers who package them and the rating agencies who bless them.

I can see how some prospective borrowers might confuse the secondary 'credit crunch' with the retail mortgage market; however, most people who have a 20% down payment with good credit in California know they’re golden. It’s not as if mortgage spam has disappeared, and if they aren’t up to their ears in home ownership already, they're more shrewd than me.

Blame the media if you must, but a steep rise in mortgage foreclosures and ‘for sale’ inventory is a legitimate story even if it doesn’t reflect all regions.

[IggysListing]

The public is not blameless.
Quite frankly, we pride ourselves on education, but turn out thousands
of "college educated" people that should know better.
However, most of what I am saying is that let's all deal with facts and
move forward and be led like sheep to the slaughter.