I was a journalism major in college.  I then went into real estate in 1994.

I can remember as far back as my sophomore year, in Journalism 101, my professor, teaching us "Rule #1 in journalism."   Confirm your facts and check your sources. 

Failure to do so, we were taught, destroyed the credibility of you as a reporter, but equally as important, the newspaper or news entity you were working for.   

Therefore, you can imagine how appalled I was at a story that was in my local newspaper, the state's largest paper, The Las Vegas Review Journal, on Thursday.

"Law seen hindering home ownership - State Assembly bill killed stated income loans"
http://www.lvrj.com/business/17842284.html

As you know, Las Vegas is a city that consists heavily of tipped employees. 

The article detailed how although our home prices have declined to the point where many people are now possible buyers once again, these people can't get loans today because "they can no longer use so-called stated income loans, or loans based on income other than reported wages."   

The source for this story was a local mortgage broker.

The basis of the article was State Assembly Bill 440, which as of October 2007 made it illegal to "knowingly or intentionally make a home loan, other than a reverse mortgage, to a borrower including, without limitation, a low-document home loan, no-document home loan or stated-document home loan, without determining, using any commercially reasonable means or mechanism, that the borrower has the ability to repay the home loan."

I blogged on this topic when the law was passed and the Mortgage Commissioner wrote a very public letter to all lenders letting us all know that stated income loans were not illegal.  

Are Stated Income Loans Illegal In Nevada? NO! A Letter From Our Mortgage Lending Division Commissioner

Many banks did stop offering stated income loans at that time but some did not.   Many still offer stated income or reduced doc loans today, in Las Vegas, including two of the nation's top three lenders.

The Las Vegas economy is driven by tourism and real estate.  It's our business. 

It bothers me that a reporter for the business section of the biggest newspaper in our state, would write a story about stated income loans not being available when they are. 

It bothers me that this inaccurate story comes at a time when the last thing we need is more fear and confusion.  

It bothers me that the source for this article would be a mortgage broker and the "facts" were not checked. 

At best, this is sloppy reporting with mistakes that even a middle-school newspaper reporter wouldn't make.  At worst, it could be interpreted as "fear-mongering."

The real estate business has made its way onto the front page headlines in the past year because the public has a tremendous appetite for it.   It deserves to be covered with the same integrity, dilligence and fact-checking as any other news story.

This story saddens me.  Because of my background, I want to be able to trust the news.  I believe in the medium and I often argue with those who claim, "you can't believe anything you read or see on the news." 

I am starting to wonder.