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DID THE MEDIA CAUSE THIS DOWNTURN?

we recently received an email from the local association of realtors pointing out an irresponsible, ill researched article in a local newspaper.

on reading this email from the association, i realized the extent to which i, an active broker, had bought into their generalized negative hype and how it had negatively effected my attitudes and also my approach to some of my deals

so here's a word of encouragement to all of us - make sure you have the facts before youo subscribe to the recession, there are people out there that making our lives so much more difficult than it needs to be

we owe it to ourselves and to our clients

has anyone else had experiences relating to the media they would like to share?

Posted by Tony du Preez on 10/23/2007 01:36 PM

Comments (12)

media, downturn, press, articles, slump, depression, attitudes, positive, negatives, clients

12 Comments on DID THE MEDIA CAUSE THIS DOWNTURN?

OCT

2007

THEY SURE DID! They should try to be more positive and print and read stories with headlines like "NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY" or "FINALLY, A BUYERS MARKET HAS ARRIVED" instead of "THE WORST MARKET IN HISTORY" and "WHY HOMES CANNOT SELL"

It's all about the spin that you put on it!

good point - maybe we should be doing more about telling them how we feel?

I would say that if they didnt' cause the downturn, they certainly deepened and made it last longer than it needed to be. I do think that many parts of the country overbuilt and that at least in my area, prices went through the roof, BUT honestly, with interest rates still reasonably low, unemployment still really low, and the stock market still reasonably strong(although if you listen to the media, it is due to crash any second), there is no reason why we have slumped so deeply and so across the board.

Of course they did. Anyone who has read my blog, viewed my YouTube videos or heard me on the radio over the last year knows they have! Welcome to the light, Tony!

i totally agree - i think it is irresponsible how the media handle things

Hi Tony, You are 100% correct!! I know the media isn't fully responsible for this downturn, and in my area a correction was needed to have price come more in line with affordability. But why do we as humans ALWAYS think of a correction as a negative thing? Everything has or needs to get corrected, adjusted or tweaked on occasion to make them work better. I poted my blog that I wrote this morning here as I was saying the same thing.

To Buy or to wait ~ That is the question!

Bobbie Files
SouthEastern Massachusetts Real Estate
Keller Williams Realty

ok - so the media is powerful, do we just sit around and allow them to do what they like?

Interesting question, Tony. I agree with Tony and Darcy above that press coverage has worsened and exaggerated the housing slump.

Funny, but before this all happened (nearly two years ago) and before the media got hold of the story, both the Fed and the White House were expressing concern about a "frothy" real estate market nationwide. Granted, the press has done a number on us, but it's curious that our government in Washington D.C. seemed very eager to cool off the real estate market. Looks like they overdid it.

Look - we shouldn't be overstating this. There were markets across the nation that were overheated and they were always going to go away. The media was writing and waiting for this to happen, but they didn't cause it. They are however prolonging it and this will last until the next financial crisis when they will tell everyone to put their money in real estate - just as they did prior to the boom.

The best way to counter this is to bring good news from your market to the attention of your buyers and sellers. That is what I do every single week on my radio show.

Did they cause the downturn? No, but they're not being honest about the problems that caused the trouble that some are facing. Is the media causing the downturn in areas of the country where there is positive growth? MOST DEFINATELY.

Here in Charlotte, we've been largely ignored because we're increasing in value, unemployment is low, housing is affordable, and over 50,000 people a year are moving here. I love how they get some wall street stock guy to talk down the real estate market everywhere. Also, the media created the term "real estate bubble" and was pronouncing housing as dead 3+ years ago. That's why I blog and podcast - to let people know the truth.

thanks for your comments guys - this is what i love to hear - other positive professional people that are contracting out of the depression

good luck all of you and may the Force be with you!!!!

OCT

2008

people posted in this page are doing UTAH real estate business. I don't trust them at all. What kind of skill they have other than selling housing with lying. Lie after lie. Those people made American economic down. Really, what else they can do? In big % of UTAH business are real estate. Really what else they can do more than selling house.

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