...or at least I shot down all of his assertions that he was broadcasting about the local real estate marketplace.
I was driving from client to client today and tuned in the radio to the local talk radio host and listened as he painted a stark picture of the economy with a special emphasis on the horrible real estate market. There was only one small problem with his rant and that was that the real estate market in our area does not resemble many markets across the country.
The so called radio expert was even a bit joyful about all the negative news he was spewing across the airwaves. And pile on he did. For what purpose I don't know but the singing continued for what seemed like a half hour until...
...good'ole Tim Rogers Realtor managed to interrupt the monologue with my hot little cell phone redial button. I politely pointed out to the esteemed host that he was spreading needless rumour and inuendo since all of his facts were recapping national numbers and DID NOT APPLY to our local real estate market.
Said host listened intently as I provided a recap of the local market using the facts that I study daily so I'm able to provide statistical analysis to buyers, sellers, and curious passers-by about our local market.
Thepicture I painted was a fairly good one since our market is up in every statistical category with the only negative number being days on market. Prices are up, inventory is down, and buyers are still buying and sellers are still selling (when they price correctly). We have very few foreclosures compared to the national averages. Interest rates are at historic lows. The fed just cut the prime rate to 2% (2%!!!!). The local jobs market is good and incomes are rising. 40% of our market is working with first-time home buyers and there are several great local grant programs that will provide first-time homebuyers with downpayment and closing costs. I could have droned on but i'm sure all of the goods news had listeners tuning out.
I politely asked the host to provide local facts in the future because I didn't think he was helping his constituency by scaring them with facts from a national news report that didn't remotely resemble the local market.
Much to my surprise, he agreed that he should do a better job with more market-specific data in the future and that I was right. One small victory for Realtors everywhere.
If you are in this business it is time to push back against those that are happy to be the purveyors of bad news and ill will. It all starts with every one of us doing our part. We don't need to lie down and get run over by the media machine.
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I agree with this. In fact our local market seems to be getting stronger right now. It's opposite of what the media is telling everyone.