Yesterday I went to the store and my husband asked me to pick him up a copy of The Post Star newspaper. I prefer reading the Times Union, so I purchased that as well. I should have been shocked when I read the lead story in the Post Star, but I was not. I know that bad copy sells newspapers. The lead story had a for sale sign-like image reading "Foreclosure". The essence of the story was gloom and doom about the real estate market. However reading the article the real story was told my the president of the Warren County Board of Realtors- he said all real estate is local and locally things were not bad. There was a cute little chart that showed how many sub-prime loans were written in a few surrounding counties and furthermore the chart showed how many foreclosured have taken place. The number is low. Yet the story is scary for anyone looking to buy or sell a home.
The total number of foreclosures in Saratoga County was reported as 90. They did not even tell us how many homes were sold in Saratoga County last year. Well, here is the number: 2564. Like everyone else, I don't want anyone to foreclose on their home. But what fries me is the media's insistance in reporting bad news--and in the case, not reporting the full story.
If the story was about a county in Florida, Ohio, California or Navada, the real story would have matched the headline. Markets are real bad in some parts of the country.
The Greater Capital Region is a consertive market. For so long as the largest employeer is the State of NY, we will have a fairly steady marketplace. If I were the Editor of the Post Star, I would have written a story about AMD--now there is some potential good news. I bet they would have sold the same amount of newspapers!
