December 10, 2007

Motley Fool's Seth Jayson destroys Lawrence Yun and the NAR horror show (again), and says HP is the place to go for real estate reality


I struggle with whether I should even waste virtual ink here on HP with anything the wholly-discredited and laughable National Association of realtors and their chief propagandist Lawrence Yun put out. It's getting so bad now that I think law enforcement should get involved. They need to be stopped.

Just when you thought they couldn't do themselves and their members any more damage, they went ahead and royally screwed the pooch today, announcing that home sales and prices would rise in 2008. Even though the real economists in the room are correctly predicting massive falls in sales and prices.


Nice to see some media actually read this crap before they copy/paste the headline. Seth Jayson is on them like white on rice. Here's Seth (thanks for the link!):


Down Isn't Up. Really.
By Seth Jayson December 10, 2007

Seems like every week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) finds a reason to pump residential homebuying by looking at numbers and spinning them to claim that down is up, white's the new black, a Jolly Rancher is a sprinkle.

Worse yet, the business media -- even outfits like The Wall Street Journal, where they know how to add and subtract -- parrot the NAR party line.

As a result, unless Joe Sixpack happens to drop by on a day when I'm watching the NAR, or frequents a more vigilant (and feisty) housing blog like Housingpanic, he's likely to think things are getting better. That would be wrong.

Moral of the story? Don't be duped by lazy reporting and interest-group fact-flipping. It's going to sink plenty of real estate agents, too -- which is why the NAR is working so hard to try and rebuild its media machine.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

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He is too diplomatic w/ those maggots, IMO.

Malcolm said...

Keith:

Who knows. Maybe they know that even a broken watch is right twice a day.

They're fighting in the hope that maybe their time is up.

Too bad they don't realize that their time is actually up.

(one of these days I'm going to post in Iambic Pentameter, just for kicks)

Frank R said...

This pisses me off because it's the billions in lobbyist money and campaign payoffs that allows them to get away with it.

As a small business owner, if I engaged in blatantly deceptive advertising, I'd be shut down and fined by the FTC in no time.

Anonymous said...

"Vigilant AND feisty" - quite the compliment. Good work Keith

Anonymous said...

At least we have Jayson, Schiff, Shiller, Roubini, Roach, Thornburg and a few others on our side

Still 100 to 1

Anonymous said...

You have got to be kidding. Would someone put Lawrence Yun out of his misery.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071210/housing_forecast_realtors.html

Anonymous said...

"which is why the NAR is working so hard to try and rebuild its media machine"

That and bring back sales of tops with plunging neck lines - from CNN...

"In California's San Joaquin Valley, Christina Perret said the foundering housing market has caused sales to sag at her three high-end women's fashion clothing shops and forced her to reconsider her stock. Perret's gotten rid of racks of flashy tops with plunging necklines that were favorites with real estate agents, substituting a line of conservative sweaters popular with farmers' wives."

That has to be the best REIC quote EVER!

Anonymous said...

Bull Market coming for handcuffs and leg irons. Invest NOW...

Taser Guns and bullets secondary investment vehicles....

Sick and Dying America

Anonymous said...

congrats again, Keith!

Anonymous said...

"Don't be duped by lazy reporting and interest-group fact-flipping."

I agree with edgar that he was too diplomatic. If those reports have half a brain cell, they know what they print are lies, FU**CKING BIG lies.

Anonymous said...

They are the "Ministry of Truth".... and don't forget "war is peace".

....and my fav "debt is wealth"

tater said...

Message to Mr. YUN and NAR:
EXIT STAGE RIGHT!!! You're amateurish magician show is over.

These spin-baggers at the NAR and their "economist" called Yun will definitely be gettin' egg on their faces. Hopefully, they'll get the chicken shit that comes with the egg too.

whitetower said...

Talk about a bitch-slapping.

Princess Mononoke said...

The NAR has absolutely NO shame! I can NOT believe they still have the nerve to call themselves professionals!!!

More like Professional Snake Oil Salespeople...

From wiki:
The expression is also applied metaphorically to any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality.

Anonymous said...

Wow....whatever vestige of credibility the NAR may have had....is now completely shattered. It is almost like someone committing suicide in front of your eyes. Even if you don’t like them it is still painful to watch.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on a nice link Keith.

By the way, I hear Siberia is a nice place to nest these days. Been there lately?

brokersleaveyoubroke said...

Well, that's the second time I've seen that NAR press release and both times the reporters added comments that equate the release to a smelly pile of dung. The MSM was a little late getting to the party but I'm glad they finally started to show up.