Excuse me, like I said in my other posting about the media loving to bleed the real estate industry and people loving to believe it. Now the National Association of Realtors says we had an .8% seasonal adjustment and the New York Times (go figure) called it the worst decline in 24 years. Here are the links to the articles:
National Association of Realtors
I don't know about your market but we've had good, solid, honest real estate investment transactions blowing through our office like the M train into Wall Street for the last 5 or 6 years. I like this blog because we get to play with data from the census bureau and NAR.
"There were 6,480,000 existing-home sales in all of 2006, down 8.4 percent from a record 7,075,000 in 2005. The second highest total was 6,779,000 in 2004; NAR began tracking home sales in 1968." NAR
To finish off the article in the times I love this line, "Economists say they think the slump in the housing market, which was even more pronounced in new homes than in existing ones, has bottomed out, and they look for a rebound in 2007." NYT
Hmm. Notice anything interesting in the graph? Could it be that the volume of home sales is directly and proportionately inverse to the curve of interest rates? Hello? Rates go down, sales go up ... rates go up, sales go which way? Anybody up there at the NYT bright enough to figure that out?
Okay. I'm better now.
Talking heads have no experience, no understanding of the industry, are clueless about the nuances and intricacies of the factors governing the ebb and flow of people in and out of markets and still have the power of the pen to dampen an entire market sector. Why?
My favorite movie quote from recent years is when Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents J and K respectively in "Men in Black" are talking and J (Slick) says to K, "Why don't we just tell people the aliens are here. People are smart. They can handle it." And K hits the nail dead center on the head when he replies, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky animals."
Truth in fiction. We are a part of the blind heard of the media. Not all of us. Not you for sure! I mean you're here participating on Active Rain. But, generally, the media rules the thoughts of Jung's "collective consciousness" of which you and I are part.
That's why we need professional like you to share with us, here, on Active Rain, what is really happening in your neighborhood. We all know that some bubbled, some didn't and some popped. What we don't know is exactly where and how it affected you and how to help you get up out of it. We love you!
Just a side note: We (you) BETTER pay attention to the negative press on this subject because most media outlets slant negative on everything. They especially loathe business minded (free market minded) politicians and military actions even when they are needed. We have a very important election just 2 years ahead of us and I am concerned that the media will be able to influence enough people who know nothing about how small businesses, like yours, keep the world floating and away we'll go with things like tax hikes, increased capital gains, skyrocketing minium wage and more penalties for the middle class. But that's my two cents *while* we're on the subject. Hehe!
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