A nation of 300 million people has nearly 20 million vacant and unwanted homes. "Home Vacancies Set Record"

What this means:

* Rents will stay low
* Prices will keep falling
* realtors will keep lying
* Drastic government intervention into the free market is on the way

What will we do with all these empty homes? How can we as a nation have been so incredibly stupid? And what will become of vacant-home foreclosure ghost towns like Maricopa Arizona? Time to send in the bulldozers?

Home Vacancies Set Record

The share of homes vacant and for sale, an important measure of the nation's housing supply, set a record in the first quarter in a signal that the glut of homes on the market isn't improving.

The homeowner vacancy rate, which measures the number of vacant homes for sale, rose to a record 2.9% in the first quarter from 2.8% in the fourth quarter, about one percentage point higher than normal, according to new Census Bureau data. The vacancy rate has jumped nationwide and in cities, suburbs and rural areas since the housing bubble popped. From 1995 until the fourth quarter of 2005, the rate held between 1.5% and 2%.

About 2.2 million vacant homes were for sale in the first quarter, up from 2.1 million in the fourth quarter and about one million more than was typical before the housing bubble burst.

Economists say the rising vacancies indicate that home prices won't stop falling and home builders can't ramp up construction until the glut of vacancies can be worked down.

"It's the worst piece of housing news that we've heard in the past couple of months," said Patrick Newport, U.S. economist at Global Insight. "It means home prices will continue to drop at least for the remainder of the year."

Meanwhile, a record 4.1 million vacant homes are for rent, with the rental vacancy rate rising to 10.1% in the first quarter.

Why can't the realtors just stop lying?

Seriously, I don't get the little critters. If I was a realtor,

(oh, man, I just had a vision of hell)

Anyway, IF I was a realtor

(seriously, hell)

But IF I was a realtor, I wouldn't be running around saying 'HEY, NOW'S A GREAT TIME TO BUY!" as my one and only marketing message. That BS just makes them look stupid at best and like corrupt commission-hungry ramen-eating liars at worst.

The right message for realtors, if they'd pull their heads out of their asses is this:

"Home prices are crashing, and a massive nationwide financial mania and Ponzi Scheme is imploding. If you own a home, sell now, sell at any price and get out. And if you're looking to buy, there's a sea of foreclosures and desperate sellers out there, let us help you find a screaming deal"

Now that would get the houses sellin' and the commissions flowin'. Instead, we get more of the same BS like this (thanks Ty):

PIGS FLY ALERT! A realtor with a conscience asks "Should we be telling folks 'now is a great time to buy' when in fact values are still declining?"

Never thought I'd see the day. I thought I'd only see '21 reasons' and 'bubbles are for bathtubs' forever from these no-morals six percenters.

It's the guilt HP'ers. It must be eating at the little ramen eaters.

The non-stop lies. The never-ending distortion. The spin. The con job. The talking points. And the fact that they knowingly hurt people for their own self-enrichment.

It's gotta be eating at their very souls. Those of 'em that still have one.

Now is a great time to buy Real Estate! Or is it?

Yesterday I received an email from my local REALTOR® Association (OSCAR). In it was a plea request, from our new Association President, asking all REALTORS® to place a one liner in all our ads stating "Now is a great time to buy real estate!"

Now folks, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I certainly don't agree that things are as bad as the media portrays but I'm having a hard time getting my head around "Now is a great time to buy real estate!"

Is this request, from our Association, an attempt to manipulate the market? Is it less than truthful? Should we be telling folks "Now is a great time to buy real estate" when in fact, values are still declining? What if I told someone this and they bought based on, "Now is a great time to buy real estate" only to find out three years later, when they need to sell, that their property's value has declined?

Am I over thinking this? Should I just jump on the bandwagon and start running optimistic ads just so I can "put more money in my pocket"?

Why do I feel uncomfortable about this? What am I missing? Please help me out here.