This is called conflict of interest, pure and simple. During the dot-com bubble, stock analysts and reporters like Jack Grubman, Henry Blodget and Dan Dorfman were out there pumping stocks in the media without fully disclosing their ownership positions or conflicts. Those days changed, and when it comes to stocks now you have to disclose your interest.
That's NOT the case with real estate. Housing pumpers like Neil Cavuto, Nicholas Retsinas, Mike Norman etc are obvious homedebtors who do NOT want the value of their real estate to fall. So they get out there and cheerlead, without disclosing their personal financial interests.
Well, Rolodex-of-Realtors Reagor, who did some of the worst reporting I've EVER seen during the bubble, finally admitted the truth today. Gee, what a shocker. Now if the Arizona Republic would also admit to its readers what percent of its falling revenues come from the REIC, we'd be getting somewhere.
Housing prices still in decline - Home prices in metropolitan Phoenix took a healthy drop in October.
No one who owns a home wants to hear that, including me. But real-estate analysts say home prices in many parts of the Valley need to come down after climbing too high during the frenzy of 2004-05. The decline will help the market stabilize, they say. More buyers will get off the fence, and many sellers will still make a profit.
November 25, 2007
Arizona Republic's Rolodex-of-Realtors Catherine Reagor finally admits why she wrote so many housing fluff pieces. She's a homedebtor.
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15 comments:
Hmmm-
Does that mean I have to disclose the fact that I'm not a homedebtor when I rant that prices need to come down
;p
Brian
Reagan: 1st Inaugural... sounds like Ron Paul
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=IleiqUDYpFQ&feature=related
at 6:10
"in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our current problem, government is the problem" -Ronald Reagan
And look at Ron Paul in this
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=YyXW1hb-JQg
This is what it was to be an American under Ronald Reagan.
Watch this and remember what a leader was like:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=h8_G-mlKxTY
Housing prices have a long, long way to decline before there will be any serious buying again.
Again, the basics are all that really determine the economic stability and buying power of US citizens over the long term ...
Salaries are not going up for the majority of US citizens.
Jobs are not permanent - even at many higher paying positions.
Basic necessities keep increasing in cost.
The dollar is buying less and less, so it will take more and more to buy the same amount of goods and services.
There will be less tax dollars available, so the government will do it's best to extract every last tax dollar - unethically - from US tax payers in years to come.
A fall back to realistic pricing levels is necessary if this country is to survive.
Now everyone is saying that the way to fix the RE market is to get realistic with (lower) your house prices.
The fact is in Phoenix there are 58,000 houses on the market and on average of 3,500 buyers per month.
So in addition to lowering house prices we just need to drum up 55,000 housebuyers real quick for the month of December, so we can get the market back to normal and end this mess!
But what about the people who refinanced their houses to the max and are unable to sell unless they pay out of pocket costs?
By the way, Is there a term for them?
Keith, maybe you could have a contest to find the best name for them;
Here's my ideas; "upsidedowners" "maxouters"
Or, (with a nod to the Sprint commercial)
"my phone may work in Calnewzonasouthameriland, but I'm stuck in this maxarefihelocrapatract"
No big crisis to the usual GOP crooks, as long as the sheeple keep drinking the Kool-Aid and keep spinning that hamster wheel to pay lots of taxes:
(Bloomberg) -- On the campaign trail, Rudy Giuliani rails against congressional spending set aside for lawmakers' pet projects. In Washington, his law firm fights to obtain them.
Giuliani, the Republican presidential front-runner, last month pledged to ``get rid of'' so-called earmarks, which cost taxpayers about $13 billion this year, saying his party should promote ``fiscal discipline.'' Just weeks later, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP won $3 million worth of projects for its clients in defense-spending legislation.
``It's a bit hypocritical,'' said Republican consultant Eddie Mahe, who isn't aligned with any presidential candidate. ``He profits from it. I don't think Joe Sixpack is going to buy into that.''
"The median price of an existing Valley house fell to $242,000 last month, reports the Realty Studies department at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus. That's the lowest median price the market has posted since spring 2005. It's an almost 10 percent drop from the median resale high of $267,000 the housing market hit in early 2006."
10% off in Phoenix
Still a long way to go!
"stabilize"
Sounds like a Realtor (TM) word.
Dream on, Ms. Reagor.
Writers and media talking heads didnt lie about the housing bubble because they were homedebtors. They lied because that is what they always do.
The media is based on "bull shiat".
It doesnt matter the topic, the media's sole purpose is to brainwash the population. An all too willing population I might add.
When I purchased my condo back in 1995, the realtor suggested I should buy a more expensive one, and max my loan. She justified it by saying my salary would keep going up in the years to come to cover the difference. Funny, how these realtors try to act like your financial advisors, but I didnt fall for it.
I wonder if they would say that if their commission didnt change?
That was the line realtors used on me in 1995, but years later after prices got so inflated, realtors had to switch tactics and say that the house's appreciation would bail people out of higher payments
through re-financing. That tactic only works for so long...
Realtors will say anything to get the buyer to max-out on their loan, and I'm sure many of them got kick backs to suggest toxic loans to their buyers when writing the offer.
$242K median for Phoenix doesn't sound all that high. Compared to LA or SD it's 1/2 off. And sure salaries are less than in SD or LA but not 1/2 as much. If you're in SoCal making $80K and your house costs $500K, moving to PHX, making $65K and buying for $250K is still a good deal.
I grew up in NYC so for me a house (as opposed to apartment) any house under $500K will always seem cheap,no mater what. It's all relative I know, but when I hear $242K I think, holy shit what a bargain.
Reagor is a Realtor posing as a columnist/expert.
I guarantee you she will be selling houses after the wrinkles deepen and the ass sags - Guaranteed.
How LOW do you have to stoop in the US to become an expert on Real Estate?
Real Estate Retards...
$242K median for Phoenix doesn't sound all that high. Compared to LA or SD it's 1/2 off. And sure salaries are less than in SD or LA but not 1/2 as much. If you're in SoCal making $80K and your house costs $500K, moving to PHX, making $65K and buying for $250K is still a good deal.
$242k is not a realistic "median" for Phoenix. People don't realize how much of the Phoenix city limits are ghettoes, and how much more expensive the median price is in the Phoenix suburbs. $242k will not get you anything desirable there except maybe a small condo in a decent neighborhood.
Is it just me, or does Ms Reagor resemble Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes?
http://cots.shaftnet.org/img/zaius.jpg
One point i don't hear too much about with the housing price drop in phoenix, is the fact that the local economy depends so much upon growth. New home developments are still being built today, due to the years of planning, but at what point will that slow down? How does the local economy sustain at that point? Where will all the construction workers, mortgagage brokers, contractors go to work at that point? Remember folks, the poster child of decline Detroit was a one ecomomy based system as well, and at one point in time was the fastest growing city in the nation....where is Detroit now. I see some similarity.
Anonymous said...
>>One point i don't hear too much about with the housing price drop in phoenix, is the fact that the local economy depends so much upon growth.
November 27, 2007 8:27 PM
Here is a great article for you and other HPer's to read:
"A Financial Market is a process, not an event" by Eric Janszen
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13997#poststop
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