I've been talking a lot about the media lately, but my thoughts just keep dwelling on this topic. When I see headlines talking about how many people believe we might be in a recession, I start to wonder if that is simply reflecting the fact that everyone hears and reads predictions of future downturns and problems in the news. However, sometimes we can find small morsels of hope buried under all of the sour gloom.
For example, I recently spotted a short but wonderful article, entitled "'07 home prices not so bad after all," in The Seattle Times. It's just a few short paragraphs long, but at least it shows another side of the real-estate industry in the Pacific Northwest, at least. Local newspapers and other media sources should do more of this kind of reporting in their areas. Even if national statistics don't look particularly strong, I'm sure that many local real-estate markets are doing just fine. I would like to hear more about local trends, rather than national trends.
I would have liked to see more discussion in the Seattle Times article of possible reasons why prices still increased in the Puget Sound, despite increases in inventory. Perhaps luxury real estate markets helped maintain home values in the region or maybe some other factor contributed in a way that I haven't considered, yet. I shouldn't complain too much about the shortness of this article; it's nice just to hear some good news mentioned. Speaking of which, I have more good news that I'd like to share soon. I'll hopefully be able to write more on Monday.
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Robert, you are very accurate in your assessment of the media. Unfortunately people don't buy papers to read the feel good articles but instead like the doom and the gloom. Life can be difficult and they like to think that others out there have it worse off.
You mentioned that you would like to see more about the positive sides of real estate in your area. At a recent seminar I attended they suggested sending letters to different newspapers and magazines. Once one is published you can send it to another source. Spread the good news that exists in your area. While it may not be front page news it may promote you to the right people, buyers and sellers, who want to use your services.
Real Estate is local and is in no way similar in all parts of the country, however, the increasing cost of living and inflation are unfortunately impacting all Real Estate markets.
Dear Eric,
Wow, you have given me a very thoughtful response. Thank you so much. You're right. It's not enough to point out that I don't like something, but it's more important for me to simply take action in small ways to help get the word out about good things that are happening in various places.
I must admit that I think that there are underlying problems that I wish the media would address more often. Our credit system is entirely broken. It feeds on the poor and keeps many people in eternal debt. I would like to see stories exposing the inherent problems of our system so that people can stop focusing on "getting out of debt," and instead focus on living wisely and staying fiscally healthy.
This has gotten rather far off-topic, but I agree with you that there are many problems that are plaguing our nation that affect everyone. Thank you very much for your wise comments. I hope you have a nice weekend.
Sincerely,
Robert Lockard
Robert: I've been saying this for awhile - the media loves bad news and if there is none - they invent some! Everyone is talking gloom and doom. I wrote a blog about what is taking place in Hernando County, Florida. We are 45 minutes north of Tampa and prices have fallen from the highs of two years ago BUT they are still up from the prices before the boom. We have buyers or at least people saying they want to buy here. We had a great closing yesterday and the title company we use said they are getting really busy. I also read that 2007 was the 5th best year in real estate! How could that be bad news? Also, housing starts were down and that means maybe we can start getting rid of some of our inventory. The only people who won't make any money are the ones who bought within the last two years or they took out their equity and now expect to get more out. Some sellers are being more realistic than others and their homes are selling. They are walking away with some money - maybe not what they would have a few years ago but they are still making money! I don't think the country is headed for recession. I listen to the different economist and most think we are ok and will be ok.
Thanks for the good news.
Bonnie Barbieri - Remax Advantage
www.HomeInTheSunGroup.com
Dear Bonnie,
Thank you very much for your comment! I love the way you talk about the market because it's so true. People should have made a lot of money in the housing boom, so it shouldn't be too much trouble if prices fall a little. They've still done very well. If we look at the big picture, instead of focusing on a month or a quarter, it's easy to see that we're still doing very well in many markets across the country. I really appreciate your wonderful words.
Sincerely,
Robert Lockard
The Seattle Times and PI are republican based papers and predominately owned and ran by a Republican majority. I used to work for a Seattle paper in Fremont. Seattle is one of the very few places still seeing price increases, mostly in Queen Anne and Wallingford areas. The rest of the state is haveing record foreclosures. We are in a recession. Denial comes from those that are not informed and are unaware of the current housing market and stock market. The Dow and NASDAC hed record drops all week. There is no confidence in our government and the state of the economy. The only people that can't see it are stuck in their own little neighborhood and obviously have no money in the stock or bond markets. Listen to the experts, like Jim Cramer. It is time for all to tighten their spending for another 6 months till the markets start to recover in hopes of new leaders. It's not all doom and gloom, we just need to rebalance our investment portfolios and get more into the European and bond markets.
Bonnie- I think you ment to put 01/25/2007...that's when it was predicted that we might be heading for a recession....we are in one now!
Dear Chuck,
Very interesting. Thank you very much for taking the time to share your insights into the current financial market. I am certainly in no rush to spend any large amount of money, but then, that's just my personality type. Being deep in debt during a lean time just doesn't look very attractive to me. However, I'd like to point out that the definition of a recession involves a decline over six months, I believe, so it's not accurate to say that we're currently in a recession, since we haven't experienced six months of decline in the GDP or GNP (or something like that). I hope that this time of fear will lead us to be more wise in the future. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Robert Lockard
Nice post. I am referencing it at Positive on Real Estate.com. What I am teaching over there is that you can change the news because your publishing is the news. Journalists come to blogs and social sites to get news. If you flood your posts with reasons why there is good stuff happening to real estate you will change the news.
This is the first I have listed this off my own blog. I haven't even mentioned it on my AR blog ( I will in a few minutes though:-)). Come on over and start the good news flowing!
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