Hey Michael!  I don't really want to get my mind going on the media, after all, it's late at night and I'm trying to get myself ready for bed!  Unfortunately the aspects that make our country great are also the aspects that will some day destroy us.  The media had one thing in mind when they implemented the destruction of the housing market.  They had decided the Democrats had to capture the Congress in 06.  The way to do this of course was to destroy the economy.  If they could destroy the housing market, they would have a major negative affect on our entire economy.  Now that we are getting closer to the 08 election, the media continues to tell the consumer not to buy homes quite yet.  It's still going down.  In reality, in 05 when they started their rampage, the market was starting to pull back a little bit.  This would be the natural progression of our Real Estate curve.  Once they realized they were going a great job of destroying things, they increased their negativity. 

The media is extremely powerful and if you are told again and again that the market is crashing, eventually the average American will listen.  I'm sure we will still be hearing how bad the market is until after the election.  My guess is in January of 09 we are going to see the media touting how the housing market has leveled and thanks to our new Democrat President things are looking up.  It's very scary how much power they have.  With that said, it's up to us, the consumer, the Real Estate Agents, that must educate the buyer on the truth.  In fact, I would imagine if we could get Realtors to focus on how to generate business and be positive, the market would correct itself quicker.  Most Agents I talk to are talking gloom and doom.  Actually, I don't think they have seen gloom and doom if they think this is it!