Oh the Media, and Their Pessimism

Today, before I opened my AOL email I noticed a headline that read "Steep Drop Predicted for Home Prices". While the market is bad I do not believe that this type of reporting is genuine. It is all speculation and predictions. And how often do these types of predictions or speculation come to fruition? Rarely, right? Remember Y2K? And all the disasters that would ensue because of the computers not reading the correct date.

I guess I am biased because I work in this industry and I am not happy with our potential clients be swayed by a prediction that someone made. This type of reporting only adds to the crisis and only helps to instill fear in people. What should I expect? This is the media we are talking about right? And if you ever watch the news you know that within the broadcast you will probably hear stories that drive fear into the viewer. Like lead in the toys, or the date rape drug in the toys, or how about global warming.

While these things are bad and pose significant dangers, they are part of life and chances we take in living life. How many people do you know that grew up with lead paint in our homes? Or asbestos? etc...? I know that many people did become affected by these things among other harmful things. But many of us made it out OK. I think that we should take the media and warnings seriously, but we should also know that we can prevent many of them if we only do some research.

Just like in the Real Estate industry, if you did your research you would know that all Real Estate is local. And not all markets are affected in the same way. Places are doing better already, and some are still floundering. I do not have a crystal ball but I feel that things are going to get better. I know that things will be hard for a while, but I will not be instilling fear into the public causing a panic of inactivity as the media does.

While many things are out of our control, the media should understand that they play a crucial role in peoples lives and that may not always be for the greater good. While I am not saying they should lie or only make positive happy go lucky news all day, everyday. I do think they should be fair, and balance their reporting. And they should put a pro and a con out there for people to make up their own minds.

Here is the link to the article I read:

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/steep-drop-predicted-for-home-prices/20071206084609990001