September 04, 2007

HP'ers - vote for your favorite "there is no housing bubble" or "we've hit bottom" REIC Quote of Pure Stupidity

Here's ten that come to mind. Submit more stupid quotes here, and vote for your favorite. I'll award the HousingPANIC REIC Quote of Pure Stupidity based on your input...

1) There's no national bubble. You have to have a huge deflationary scenario to make a national bubble make any sense - James F. Smith, chief economist at the Society of Industrial & Office Realtors, June 2005

2) I don't foresee any national decline in home price values - Frank Nothaft, chief economist, Freddie Mac, June 2005

3) The sky is not falling. Yes, home prices are sky-high, but we really don't have a housing bubble that is anywhere near bursting - Jim Jubak, MSN columnist, June 2005

4) Although a "bubble" in home prices for the nation as a whole does not appear likely, there do appear to be, at a minimum, signs of froth in some local markets - Alan Greenspan, June 2005

5) There is no real estate bubble. Bubbles are for bathtubs - Kendra Todd, September 2006

6) Cassandra, though, can stop wailing: the expected price corrections mark a slowing in the rate of increase -- not a precipitous decline" - Nicholas Retsinas of Harvard JCHS, September 2006

7) "We think the housing market has now hit bottom" - David Lereah, NAR, September 2006

8) "I think psychological factors are currently the biggest drag on the housing market" - Lawrence Yun, NAR, May 2007

9) "There is virtually no risk of a national housing price bubble" - NAR anti-bubble talking points, date unknown

10) "Hate to burst your housing bubble but there isn’t one" - Jerry Bowyer, author of "The Bush Boom", July 2006

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I vote for #10 what Bush Boom. Those words should never be used together.

Anonymous said...

Retsinas.

I would have expected more from Harvard.

Anonymous said...

Let the good times roll - Clinton during the late 1990's dotcom stock ponzi scheme

Anonymous said...

Guess the loca;s will not be doing tax assessed reevaluations every year now as they like the increased tax revenue that the politican leeches and vultures can throw away and spend...

Anonymous said...

While I think Lereah should be imprisoned, I would have to say Resitas because he's employed by academia (that's what Harvard is saying). He's supposed to be one researching and spreading the truth, not boldfaced lies.

Paul E. Math said...

I'm going to go with:

8) "I think psychological factors are currently the biggest drag on the housing market" - Lawrence Yun, NAR, May 2007

Because this guy is a phd economist, is employed as a chief economist for the nar and yet is attempting to pass himself off as a psychologist.

On this blog we have discussed, without exagerating, hundreds of economic reasons why the housing market is in decline. This idiot claims he can't think of one. Just psychological factors, no economic factors, according to Yun.

And how much do you know about psychology, Larry? Oh yeah, nothing whatsoever, obviously, or you would have seen one of the major causes of this bubble a long way off.

Anonymous said...

On August 30th, 2007 Realtor Jeff Brown, (http://www.bawldguy.com), a common contributor to Greg Swan's Blog declares: "It’s my opinion we’re at or very near the bottom of this market correction. (Remember, you read it here first.)"

Jeff promotes himself as a financial planner of sorts yet appears to hold only a high school diploma. What's all this ECON101 stuff anyways?

Anonymous said...

Retsinas #1 super idiot of the year!

Harvard should can his arse.

Anonymous said...

I was not having toilet sex! I'm a republican!

Anonymous said...

Here's a couple of gems from Greg Swann (July 21, 2006)

"Whenever the subject of Phoenix comes up in a BubbleBlog, the assembled Brown Shirts pile on, for whatever reason".

"Could [house prices] go lower? Certainly. Will they drop by the huge amounts HousingPanic and his flying monkeys seem to yearn for? This seems very unlikely".

Anonymous said...

5) There is no real estate bubble. Bubbles are for bathtubs - Kendra Todd, September 2006

This dumb bitch gets the prize because she has no credentials to discuss anything. Period.

Anonymous said...

You need to kick out the obviously self-serving quotes, like the ones from the NAR or any other realtor rep organization. It isn't stupidity for them so much as flat-out lying to land as many suckers as they can.

So Greenspan wins the booby prize. So far as I know, he didn't get any kickbacks and he was in a position of adult responsibility. Hah!

Anonymous said...

#5 - Bubbles and Bathtubs for doofus quote of the year. Kendra Todd, come on down!

Anonymous said...

I vote for #5. "Bubbles are for bathtubs" always makes me laugh. I remember someone saying that it sounds like a playground insult.

Anonymous said...

#11

Clinton

The Clinton blamers... you guys are too funny.... I spit up my coffee reading that. I believe he's been been gone for 7 years or so. Hey, let's party like it's 1986.... Party on dude!!!

Anonymous said...

The Kendra Todd quote for stupidity. No reasoning, just a slogan. It also insults our intelligence.

For the most evil quote, Alan Greenspan. He has blood on his hands. He had to have known what was going on by 2003 at the latest, yet he didn't raise rates in time to avoid a catastrophe.

My he rot in hell.

Anonymous said...

.



"Real Estate only goes UP"!


every frickin' realtor in history

Anonymous said...

#5 Kendra Todd. Her inane blather pretty much epitomizes the "thinking" that pumped this bubble up. Holy God what a dumb broad. Why doesn't she stop talking and take her top off? She needs to go make me a sandwich.

Anonymous said...

LOL someone really wrote a book called the Bush Boom? The opening paragraph? "The boom has been amazing for Bush and a handful of his closest friends and the companies they have an interest in..."

I still think the "bubbles are for bathtubs" is the most irritating - because it is just so damned stupid. It is the quintessential quote of the types of people who ignored economic fundamentals while lining their pockets.

Unknown said...

7) "We think the housing market has now hit bottom" - David Lereah, NAR, September 2006

7a) "We think the housing market has now hit bottom" - David Lereah, NAR, October 2006

7b) "This is it for sure this time... The housing market has now hit bottom" - David Lereah, NAR, November 2006

7c) "Ok, we jumped the gun a bit, but the numbers now clearly show it. The worst is behind us. The housing market has now finally hit bottom... Only up and up from here." - David Lereah, NAR, December 2006

7d) "The housing market is screwed! I'm F*&%in' out of here... Later fools!" - David Lereah, NAR, January 2007

Anonymous said...

"We are experiencing home price depreciation almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression," Mozilo said in a July 24 conference call with securities analysts.