California housing panic: Help the head economist for their realtor association come up with a new term to replace the discarded "Soft Landing"

This is almost so funny it's sad. And isn't it amazing to see everything we've predicted (and gotten beaten up for) coming true in front of our eyes? Man, the wheels must have really come off the cart for the head cheerleader to sound suicidal. Next David Lereah will come out with a mea-culpa.

You can email Leslie here. Let's here your best suggestions. I'll take "Housing Panic" of course as well as "Epic Housing Meltdown".

Housing Expert: 'Soft Landing' Off Mark -Leslie Appleton-Young is at a loss for words

The chief economist of the California Assn. of Realtors has stopped using the term "soft landing" to describe the state's real estate market, saying she no longer feels comfortable with that mild label.

"Maybe we need something new. That's all I'm prepared to say," Appleton-Young said Thursday.

The shift in language comes as debate over the real estate market is intensifying. The long-awaited drop-off is happening, but there's little agreement about how brutal the landing will be.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said in congressional testimony Thursday that the national housing downturn so far appears orderly.At about the same time, however, D.R. Horton Inc. Chief Executive Donald Tomnitz was telling analysts that the home builder's sales in June "absolutely fell off the Richter scale."

The Realtors association last month lowered its 2006 sales prediction from a 2% slip to a 16.8% drop. That was when Appleton-Young first told the San Diego Union-Tribune that she didn't feel comfortable any longer using "soft landing."

"I'm sorry I ever made that comment," she said Thursday. "When I get my new term, I'll let you know."