For a year we've ripped on the corrupt David Lereah, and wondered aloud how this joke keeps his job. Either the NAR is the stupidest trade organization in America, or the corrupt David Lereah has photos of the NAR's president in a compromising position.
Osman, a credit (one of a few) to the realtor profession, today called for the corrupt David Lereah to be fired. Finally.
Let's see if other realtor's join Osman's call. Bravo Osman for maintaining your integrity and credibility. Greg Swann could learn a thing or two from you about business and about life.
Not My Favorite Clown
Despite slow dial-up access, I spent a little time catching up on reading Mish this morning. He's quite bearish on housing and the economy in general, but I find his analysis is usually well researched. I don't always like what he has to say, but Mish is not a clown. David Lereah, on the other hand, says and writes things that strongly suggest a big red nose.
I don't know if you've noticed, but we don't quote the head economist of the NAR. We also do not republish his generic press releases.
Why? Because his widely quoted sound bites sound like they're written by a PR firm. They're filled with contradictions and are sloppy and vague. His statements are not an accurate reflection of market conditions and his predictions have little value.
Mish calls it Lies, Deceit, and Greed and he's not the only one critical of David Lereah. There's even a whole blog dedicated to keeping an eye on him.
The vast torrent of bad press Lereah gets on housing blogs and alternate media sources, much of it justified, demands his dismissal.
I'm calling for a Donald Trump style "you're fired." If the National Association of Realtors is to have credibility, it's time to replace its mouthpiece.
December 18, 2006
The end is near - realtor calls for the NAR's corrupt and discredited David Lereah to be fired
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18 comments:
What took so long?
Bravo Ozman!
Osman is a credit to his profession
Wasn't david lereah recently replaced by a woman?I don't remember her name but I read that somwhere on the blogs.
The women is the President:
http://bubblemeter.blogspot.com/2006/12/nars-new-president-pat-vredevoogd.html
Lereah is still the chief economist.
As far as I'm concerned, David Lereah's biggest failure was his actions during the boom not the bust. First, we must dismiss the idea that Lereah is a true economist. His primary job is that of public relations. Lereah is supposed to represent the interest of Realtors when giving his economic outlook.
This is where Lereah failed! The boom worked against the Realtors long term interest. Some would get rich due to the boom but the long term health of the industry is better served with slow / steady increases - not booms and busts. Lereah should have been doing everything possible to slow down the irrational price increases. Instead, he cheered them on and helped set up the bust we now face. This would be like the FED cheering on the next bubble despite the risks it poses. The FED, while not perfect, at least understands that boom/bust cycles are not in the best interest of anyone.
Now, of course, Lereah is in a no-win situation. Had he done the right thing four years ago, he might have been able to dampen the problems (if just slightly) or at least he would have had been able to carry some credibility going into the tough times.
You guys give Lereah too much credit for some power he doesn't have.
I can't think of one buying or selling client I have ever had tell me that they were going to buy or sell based on David Lereah's writings.
I was at a presentation that Lereah made in May and he nailed each and every prediction he made for this year.
Maybe you'd be surprised, but he said that the overheated markets in Florida, Arizona, Nevada, California and some other places would have problems.
One problem would be that many more home owners and builders will end up having a vastly increased inventory of homes that would shift the market from a sellers market to a favorable buyers market.
He said that price levels would be a main concern for buyers and that if interest rates continued to climb there would be less sales activity.
He also said that this would be the third highest year for sales, and it appears it will turn out to be right.
I take what Lereah says with a grain of salt, just like I do with any economist would predict. Predictions are easy. Results are real. I can't force a buyer to buy property and can't force a seller to sell property. I can only do what a client wants when they want it based on the current data.
The current data in my market is nowhere near as good as it was the last two years... I happily share that data with all of my clients to help them make decisions. If the bad data I show a buyer causes them not to buy property right now, so be it.
Ignore Lereah, most people on this planet already do. Most never even heard his name... unless they read bubble blogs or happen to belong to NAR.
"wasn't david lereah...replaced by a woman...?"
yes, her name is suzanne.
Tarson, you are the one giving Lereah too much credit. We have time and again heard Lereah's optimistic predictions about the housing market only to see them fail. Remember the title of Lereah's book? He is like a broken record and deserves no credibility.
Don't come on this blog and defend one of the biggest whores to wrap his lips around this bubbles nozzle (among other things) to inflate this bubble.
Lereah is quoted all up and down the MSM and although clients may not remember his name or what he said specifically they read: "chief economist says things are good for housing" and they remember "housing is good". The NAR abuses their position as a large national organization and Lereah abuses his title and role in that organization to fluff the REIC.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Lereah deserves to be shot with a bowl of his own sh*t.
Math said...
>>Lereah is quoted all up and down the MSM and although clients may not remember his name or what he said specifically they read: "chief economist says things are good for housing" and they remember "housing is good".
Again, no client has ever walked into my office to tell me that now is a great time to buy because some economist said so.
I've seen Lereah in one of two places... at NAR meetings or on this blog. I watch a fair share of news networks and read plenty of main stream media resources. Yet the only reason I even know how to correctly spell 'Lereah' is because of the attention he gets on this blog.
You sure can tell who is in denial about the value of there house. Housing prices are crashing around the country and some still try a last ditch effort to defend the industry. Instead of relying on median prices take a look at foreclosures. These are real people having problems with owning a home.
Get over it and deal with it!
I actually went out and brought Lereah book because he was so talked about on this blog. In all honesty it's a far more conservative viewpoint than Keith portays. In many places in his book he talks how the housing boom in many parts of the country are unstainable nor even desirable.
Keith of course won't publish any of that because it doesn't suit his purpose of the this blog.
Great, I've got two realtors, Todd Tarson and some poor guy name Athol, trolling HP now
Realtors are welcome, like Osman, but damn are you guys making yourselves look dumber and dumber
You won't get any business from a bubble blog. So if you want cred here, you gotta put down the kool aid talk you use with your suckers, oops, I mean clients.
David Lereah had a tremendous amount of influence on this bubble. People who thought real estate was a sure-win and can't lose thought that way because of the cheerleading of the MSM. The MSM cheerleaded because they ripped and read Lereah and NAR PR.
Lereah also put out the now-laughable "there is no bubble" book. If you're telling me "Are you missing the real estate boom" and "Why the real estate will not bust" are balanced books, you look like a complete fool.
Which perhaps you are.
Again Keith, the only reason I know how to spell Lereah's name is due to how many time it has come up on this blog over the last 9 months or so that I have been reading.
The only reason I have sought out his presentation at mid-year leadership to sit through was because of your blog.
I haven't read his books, I've only sat through one presentation and have read his articles in the RE magazine when I'm taking a dump.
You must feel real guilty about something.
todd you pay membership fees every year to the NAR and you don't know who leads your profession?
Par for the course - another clueless realtor
High school degree or GED I'm guessing?
Lereah does not lead my profession. He is an economist that is paid by the NAR. There is no cult following for him. To think so says less about your own intelligence. I expect more from you than this.
Lereah is the mouthpiece and public face of the NAR. He is your leader just as the Queen leads England.
And was I correct about the GED degree Todd?
>>Lereah is the mouthpiece and public face of the NAR. He is your leader just as the Queen leads England.
You said that he is the leader of my profession, he is not. He may be the mouthpiece to you, but he is merely an economist.
Did he talk you into buying property?? Come on, the answer is no.
So how much power does Lereah actually have?? Not much.
Even another poster, that has read the book, said that the information included was not simply that value of property goes up without any risk. At least pretend to have some neuron activity in your head. My guess is that you haven't actually read the book that Lereah wrote. You are just cherry picking like always to mislead your readers.
Feel free to hate Lereah all you want. But trying to pretend that he is 'EF Hutton' as in when he speaks people go out and buy property like when the bell rings for Pavlov's dog.
The GED comment... brilliant. What's next, you gonna tell me there is a sale at the market for top ramen noodles?? Gee, that would be one I haven't seen from you yet.
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