HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

How stupid and discredited do these two gentlemen look today?

And then the realtors, after two years of not eating, finally turned on their lying and deceptive National Association of REALTORS masters

The hungry army of 1.2 million ramen eating realtors should march on the NAR offices in Chicago and demand an end to Lawrence Yun's happy talk and spin, the NAR's non-stop "we've hit bottom" and "prices aren't falling" spew of lies and deception.

Why?

Because this line of BS is actually hurting the 6%'ers, a HELL OF A LOT more than helping. Besides destroying their dwindling base of dues-payers' credibility (what very little of that there's left), the monkeys at the NAR are also confusing would-be sellers into not pricing their debt-traps at saleable prices, and transactions (that aren't REO's) dry up.

No transactions = no commissions = no NAR dues = more ramen

As we've said for years, the NAR should be out there saying "prices are plummeting and will fall even more. If you're a seller, lower your price, lower it big-time, and get out. If you're a buyer, get even more aggressive with your low-ball offers"

Instead, the NAR happy-talk is just freezing the market, as sellers point to the NAR spin as a reason to NOT lower prices, and buyers don't buy, because prices are still way to high.

Meanwhile, the realtors don't eat. And they're getting pissed.

Here's the latest, thanks to the NJ Real Estate Report, who's still kicking HP's ass in that REIC contest btw...

Real estate agents debate local statistics

The latest positive numbers for home sales and prices have divided real estate agents, ordinarily a group uniformly upbeat about the housing market.
Some doubt the numbers, even though they're from their own association, and say it's making it tougher to get home sellers to reduce their prices to more realistic levels.

In particular, Dawe said the figures from the National Association of Realtors, and other information gathered from state and local Realtor groups, seemed to disagree with what the Multiple Listing Service showed.

"As we talk to our sellers about the declining market we are actually facing and the fact that they have to be aggressive in pricing their homes if they expect to find a buyer, the statistics in your article are baffling and impact our credibility with customers," Dawe said.

To Eileen Raynes, an agent with Rosenthal Realty in Margate, the higher sales and price figures were a very welcome break from media coverage she described as "standing on a corner screaming 'Get your dead fish.'"

Bruce E. Breunig Jr., broker at Century 21 Alliance in Margate, admitted that "we Realtors remain part of the problem. We blame the media for fueling the downturn and try to counterbalance it with our own positive spin."

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the most discredited fake economist in the world, Lawrence Yun of the National Association of realtors

No, this video is not a gag. It's real. And the NAR is run by monkeys.

FLASH: NAR's Pending Home Sales report hits record low (again) and Lawrence Yun is sent out by his masters to lie, spin, deceive and shovel sh*t

COME ON MAINSTREAM MEDIA - CALL THIS SHILL WHAT HE IS - THE NAR'S PAID LIAR. A CONMAN. A DISCREDITED HACK.

DO NOT REPORT THIS CRAP AND SPIN AS NEWS - REPORT IT AS PROPAGANDA FROM A CORRUPT AND DISCREDITED LOBBY GROUP. DO YOUR F*CKING JOB!

Month after month the NAR and their shills have been wrong. Month after month the army of ramen-eating six percenters have declared "we've hit bottom". Month after month after month after month after month after month after month after month after month after month after month after month...


Pending Home Sales Hit New Record Low

The National Association of Realtors says pending U.S. home sales fell to the lowest reading on record in February, signaling the housing market distress is not yet over.

NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said existing home sales could start to show a sustained increase within a few months.

"We're looking for essentially stable sales in the near term, before higher mortgage loan limits translate into more sales in high-cost markets," Mr. Yun said. "The wider access to affordable credit should increase sales activity notably this summer as pent-up demand begins to be met."

Here's the first realtor I've seen who has adopted the correct marketing strategy - just tell the damn truth

Now if he'd work for $30 bucks an hour to help find or sell a house, he's got a real business. Check out his site and blog too - some good stuff there.

Good to see commentary like this though from a realtor. Unlike the mindless dribble and lies you see on realtytimes, realtor.org, bloodhoundblog and the thousands and thousands of waste-of-time realtor sites.

Message to the ramen-eaters: Tell the truth. There's a marketing strategy for you. Just tell the damn truth. Your credibility has been destroyed, likely beyond repair thanks to the monkeys at the NAR, but if you ever want to eat again, you're going to have to try something radical.

Oh, ditch the laughable 6% too. Seriously, you're gonna have to go with the hourly wage thing, with maybe a bonus for good performance. Just the way it's gonna be.

FLASH: The NAR admits the truth - there are too many damn realtors, they're doing a "sloppy" and "second rate job" and they're dropping like flies

Next they'll admit that the organization is run by monkeys, that David Lereah and Lawrence Yun were paid liars who conned America, and that their profession is a discredited joke.

OK, maybe not. But this one's a start...

Botton line - the NAR IS run by monkeys, "realtor" IS the least trusted profession in America, and you'd have to be a fool to use a realtor or pay them 6%.

Thanks david for the tip

Way Too Many REALTORS®? - By NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun

NAR membership figures have finally begun to fall.

Whew!!!

The number of REALTORS® grew from 750,000 at the turn of this decade to close to 1,370,000 as recently as August 2007. That is an addition of 83 percent in short seven years. From 1980 to 2000, membership figures bounced around in the narrow band of 620,000 to 820,000.

Such a rapid increase in membership is not necessarily healthy. How many of the new members have ever seen a down market aside from the last two years? How many understand the importance of repeat and referral business and not just a single transaction?

Given that about ½ million REALTORS® have less than 5 years of experience, sloppiness in some transactions no doubt exists. A complaint I hear quite frequently from REALTORS® is about the second-rate conduct of some of their fellow new members.

Latest propaganda and spin from the monkey-run National Association of Ramen Eating Realtors

So the NAR is endorsing housing as an investment. Does that come with a money-back guarantee?

Monkeys I tell ya. Monkeys.

PIGS FLY ALERT!!! LAWRENCE YUN ADMITS TO HOUSING BUBBLE AND COLLAPSE, AND LOUSY NAR FORECASTS, AND CALLS SUBPRIME MORTAGES A "FOOLISH INVESTMENT"

No, this is not a HP April Fools joke, it's real. Yun still has his head up his rear, and is still putting out bulls*it forecasts, but I think he's trying to prepare the ground for his eventual and unavoidable resignation from the NAR, knowing he'll need to find new work after that.

You'll love the latest commentary from Yun - he tries to throw HousingPANIC under the bus, and even defends Alan Greenspan, saying he didn't cause the housing bubble. Unreal.

A simple question comes to mind - how much longer will the six-percenters keep paying their dues to the very organization doing them the most harm?

Here's the latest musings from the most discredited economist in the world, Lawrence Yun, writing for the most discredited organization in the world, the National Association of Realtors:

Back in 2001, in the aftermath of the internet stock bubble collapse and the September 11 terrorist attacks, Alan Greenspan — then the Fed chairman — made deep cuts in interest rates in order to stave off a possible economic recession. Many also blame Mr. Greenspan for having fueled the housing market bubble and subsequent collapse by keeping the rates too low for too long.

Though some in the blogosphere have figured Alan Greenspan as one of the key persons to blame for the current housing mess, I do not blame Mr. Greenspan. I believe there is plenty of blame to go around due to other factors.

It is also fine for people to point the finger at me. In a fast changing market conditions, I too have been off on my forecast. I knew that the boom was clearly unsustainable and I made the forecast in early 2007 that home prices were likely to experience a price decline on a national level for the first time since the Great Depression. The national median home price indeed fell by 1.4%.

I believe I downgraded my forecast for ten or so straight months in 2007 as it was strongly pointed out to me. At the same time, the Blue Chip consensus forecast, comprised of about top 50 private forecasters, including forecasts by Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, UCLA, and the like — had also downgraded the housing forecast by more than 20 straight months. Forecasting is never perfect. Forecasts are bound to be off but the forecaster's job is to make the best prognosis given the available information at the time. The readers should always view any forecast with caveat emptor.

Will we experience a re-emergence of a housing boom from the current easy money policy by the Fed? The answer is no because as Abraham Lincoln said — fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It will be impossible to part global capital providers' money with another foolish investment.

The NAR's "Chief of Spin and Lies" Lawrence Yun mocked in the Sunday Times here in London, and destroyed on youtube.

Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence.

You don't have to lie for a living.

You don't have to destroy lives.

You don't have to be the laughingstock of the nation.

Quit tomorrow Lawrence. Just quit. And come clean. America likes whistleblowers. America is a forgiving country. Quit. Turn on the monkeys at the NAR. Testify in front of Congress. Be a man.

Or not.

So irritating has Nar become that Yun now has his own hater blog (Lawrenceyunwatch.blogspot. com). The same people ran a blog blasting his predecessor, David Lereah.

To be fair to Yun, Lereah seems the more deserving target. Lereah is a classic booster who once advised people it was a great time to buy and to sell.

He is also the author of the 2005 classic, Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?: The Boom will not Bust and Why Property Values will Continue to Climb through the End of the Decade � and How to Profit from Them.

Lawrence Yun, the NAR's Chief Dip, says we're seeing just a "blip", blames the media in a bizarre rip

I'm tired of this guy's lip. But here's a tip: Using a realtor is one big gyp.

You would think Yun and the NAR have no understanding of the credit implosion happening all around them. You would think they still don't understand that the Great Housing Ponzi Scheme was just a fraud-propelled free-for-all that is now unwinding. You would think they don't know about the SIVs and CDOs and failing banks.

You would think.

Media coverage of housing trends faulted

Media coverage of housing trends often gives the impression that the market is worse off than it really is, according to the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

Lawrence Yun, in presentations Wednesday to Kansas City area real estate agents, said the media’s biggest mistake was too much reporting on nationwide real estate trends. National trends alone, he said, don’t apply to many parts of the country, and reporting of them usually lacks perspective.

A more accurate perspective, he suggested, was that this year’s down market was merely a blip in the long-term growth of housing prices in the area and elsewhere. He said anyone who has owned a home for more than a couple of years has seen good housing appreciation overall.

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.

Honorary HP'er Seth Jayson at Motley Fool absolutely destroys the liars at the NAR

Here's Seth. I'm not going to add anything. This is perfect. Well done. We need more MSM and columnists to go HousingPANIC.

Housing Worse, Despite Yelping NAR
By Seth Jayson

Sometimes you have to wonder what's coming out of the water cooler at National Association of Realtors (NAR) headquarters.

The past week has seen the trade group issue a slew of misleading press releases, all intended to jump-start a withering housing market and earn those Realtors a 6% commission. The latest is a prediction of a "modest recovery" for existing home sales in 2008. If you believe that, you need to review the NAR's hilarious history of ineptitude in predicting future home sales.

On the heels of the ridiculous kid-on-a-swing campaign, the Realtors, partying in Vegas, claimed that 2007 is a great year for housing, despite copious evidence that home prices are tanking at unprecedented and accelerating rates. The fire sales and lousy margins at homebuilders such as Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV), Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM), and D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) provide more proof that prices are crashing.

How can the NAR make such a bogus claim, then? Because by their (unsophisticated) measurements, home prices are still near record levels. That's like saying 2000 was a great year for JDS Uniphase.

Memo to the commission-addled non-thinkers at the NAR: We're on the back side of a bubble. It takes a while for home prices to drop, but they are dropping.

The folks who bought in at the top, based on the NAR's constant stream of "now is a great time to buy" propaganda are now looking at major, leveraged losses in equity. Many will lose everything in foreclosure and bankruptcy.

Home prices crashing? Heading to foreclosure? Lied to by your realtor for a commission? Who cares! Kids like swings!

We all know realtors are usually the dumbest people in the room (after all, that's how these life's losers became realtors in the first place). But the fact that the dumbest people in the room are run by people WHO ARE EVEN DUMBER, well, that's just kinda sad. Or funny.

Remember when these idiots spent all that money on the now infamous and mathematically impossible "it's a great time to buy AND sell a home" ad campaign? Well, if you're the NAR, when you find yourself in a hole, you keep digging.

Here's HP'er Seth Jayson at Motley Fool on the latest spin and deception from the NAR monkeys.

And here's the monkey-run NAR's self-inflicted-gunshot-wound ad. Note to NAR - past performance does not guarantee future returns. But of course, you know that.

The monkeys at the NAR want you to believe it's a great time to be financially ruined (and take out a mortgage on a depreciating asset)

Monkeys I tell ya..

I especially liked these out-and-out lies and disinformation (with my comments of course)

* When you have a family it's always a good time to buy (why, is it a good idea to bankrupt your family? odd.)

* It didn't make sense for us spend the same amount of money renting something when we can own it (what, someone offer you an negative-am, no-down, teaser rate option-arm?)

* In this market there's a lot of options (well, that is true. 100,000 unwanted homes on the market in Phoenix alone. But why is that? Because they're WAY overpriced!)

* Prices are favorable (huh! prices are not even close to where they're going to be a year from now - much much much lower!)

DOJ sues the corrupt and monkey-run National Association of realtors for antitrust. Goodbye realtors, and good riddance.

I wonder if the buggy whip makers had an association too?

I guess the NAR can't buy off everyone. Just Congress, your local goverments, and the Bush Administration. Here's the anti-trust complaint (pdf). I'm truly amazed to see the DOJ go after the NAR. Government doing its job? Amazing. Someone deserves a raise.

And here's the DOJ's new anti-NAR website. Enjoy! The days of realtors and their 6% are over, and the least respected and least trusted profession on earth is on its way out, whether they realize that or not.

Buggy whip salesmen. Travel agents. Dinosaurs. realtors.

FLASH: The NAR announces they're run by monkeys. In related news right on schedule they lower their home sales forecast for the EIGHTH STRAIGHT MONTH

A HousingPANIC message to the incompetent monkeys polluting the head office of the National Association of Realtors:

The nation is laughing at you. You've lost all credibility and respect. You are not only harming the homedebtors of America, you're also harming your 1.3 million suckers, err, I mean dues-payers.

Lower your damn forecast once and for all. "Drama-forecast". Lower 2007. Lower 2008. Lower 2009. You know the truth of what's happening, so say it. And believe it or not, the truth will actually HELP your suckers, err, I mean your dues-payers, start selling houses again.

Why? Because the truth will freak out the homedebtors who need to get the message that prices are going to fall dramatically, and they'll lower the damn prices.

Stop sending Yun out to lie to America. Stop with your lies and spin. And stop being the most evil and distrusted organization in America. You're not fooling anyone anymore.

Realtors Group Lowers Forecast for Existing Home Sales for Eighth-Straight Month

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The decline in sales of existing homes this year will be steeper than previously anticipated, a trade group for real estate agents said Wednesday.

The eighth straight downwardly revised forecast from the National Association of Realtors calls for U.S. existing home sales to be 10.8 percent lower than last year as housing market struggles persist.

In its October report, the association predicts 5.78 million existing homes will be sold in 2007, down from 6.48 million last year. Last month, the association predicted an 8.6 percent drop from a year ago.

Still, the group maintains an optimistic message. It's senior economist, Lawrence Yun, noted in a statement that markets including Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City and Raleigh N.C. are showing price growth and 2007's home sales will be the fifth-highest on record.

"The speculative excesses have been removed from the market and home sales are returning to fundamentally healthy levels, while prices remain near record highs, reflecting favorable mortgage rates and positive job gains," Yun said.

Is Little Boy David Crisp the new Charles Ponzi? Crisp & Cole now tied to 94 properties in default and $59 million in mortgage loans gone kaput

Gotta love a good Ponzi Scheme. Gotta love a good swindle. Gotta love a good snake oil salesman, promoted by the snake oil company (the NAR). And gotta love it when out of control bankers lend millions to a little shoe shine boy during the greatest financial mania in recorded human history. David Crisp was simply Casey Serin with a much bigger credit line.

And we all know how this one ends....

Here's what the monkey-run NAR had to say about David Crisp in 2005 in their glowing "30 under 30" feature:

Bling is the thing: Crisp insists that his salespeople wear professional attire and be well-groomed. He buys luxury automobiles for his salespeople and has flown clients in private jets to view properties. “Image is key in this market,” he says. “Clients want to feel important and be with a real estate professional who’s successful.”

And of course, here's the report today, which is starting to read more like a police blotter:

On Sept. 10, the Department of Real Estate issued a complaint against Crisp, Cole and three employees, charging them with deceiving lenders to take out $12 million in home loans.

On Sept. 12, FBI and IRS agents searched 13 homes and offices related to the former Crisp & Cole Real Estate firm. Warrants were sealed, but a list belonging to a law enforcement officer listed bank records, appraisal documents and business and financial documents among items to be seized. San Joaquin Appraisals, owned by Kirk “Mark” Newton, was also searched.

As of the third week in September, Crisp, Cole, their companies, family members, employees and associates have defaulted on at least 94 properties. Payments are late on $58.76 million worth of home loans.

But don't forget the NAR's overarching message in this rags to riches to rags to orange jumpsuits story: BLING IS THE THING!!!

If the NAR-controlled US Congress has their way, soon you'll be able to walk away from your house even easier. Oh, the unindended consequences!!!

Now this is the type of failed flipper and housing gambler bailout that I may actually be in favor of. Before if you were a failed flipper (OK, let's just say Casey Serin for example) and you did short sales or foreclosures on your debt-trap, you got 1099'd by the bank and had to report the shortfall or debt forgiveness to the IRS as income.

- Listen to a realtor and buy a hilariously overpriced apartment for $1 million
- Short sell it for $600,000
- $400,000 got reported as income, and you had to pony up 28% in taxes (at least)

And now?

$0 baby! No taxes! NAR-Party! Just like the NAR-written no tax on home sale proceeds legislation that caused the bubble! Great news for the housing market!

Well, not exactly. Why? Because now millions of upside-down housing gamblers will have even more reason to short sale or just walk away. You think America has a foreclosure and home price crash problem today? Oh, just wait. If this sucker passes, and I think it will, it'll be GAME ON! Inventory will explode, lawns around America will go brown, prices will come down even faster, and can you say RTC2?

Here's the corrupt monkeys at the NAR, you know, the people who care so so so much about the commission-payers (I mean poor folks) who are losing their homes:

Realtors(R) Applaud House Passage of Mortgage Cancellation Tax Relief

The National Association of Realtors(R) praised the U.S. House of Representatives for today's passage of the Mortgage Cancellation Tax Relief Act, H.R. 3648, by a vote of 386 to 27. Since the early 1990s, NAR has advocated for repeal of the current law, which forces individuals to pay an income tax when they have had a loan forgiven or have had to foreclose because of their inability to pay their mortgage.

"Congress made a good decision today that will affect many Americans who find themselves in a truly bad situation," said NAR President Pat V. Combs

"Realtors(R) are about building communities, not just selling homes. We must work together to prevent the dream of homeownership from becoming a nightmare," said Combs. "This is just one step that will help families get on with their lives and begin rebuilding their economic security."

FLASH: NAR Pending Home Sales report plummets to all-time low. In related news, Lawrence Yun has his resume all over monster.com

Some days ya gotta feel sorry for the paid monkeys at the NAR. "We've hit bottom - it's a great time to buy or sell a house and pay a realtor a 6% commission" they'll say.

And then the numbers come out and prove that they're discredited monkeys that nobody believes anymore (except idiots in the MSM of course who allow them to spin unchecked)

Pending home sales at record low - Realtors report shows sharp drop in homes under contract, as mortgage lenders shut off financing needed to close deals.

The meltdown in the mortgage market in August dried up the supply of buyers for homeowners looking to sell their homes, as an industry group report showed the lowest level of homes under contract on record.

"Fewer contracts were being written because of mortgage availability issues, and a separate internal survey of our members shows more than 10 percent of sales contracts fell through at the last moment in August, primarily the result of canceled loan commitments," said a statement from Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the group. "The volume of activity we're seeing today is below sustainable market fundamentals because some creditworthy people are trying to buy homes but can't because of the credit crunch."

Here's the NAR's secret talking points countering Jim Cramer's pummeling of the NAR doofus on the Today Show. Have a good laugh!

[UPDATE] - The monkey-led NAR's #1 "Housing is Doing Fine" market is Beaufort, Texas. One problem - it doesn't appear that Beaufort Texas actually exists...

Monkeys I tell ya. The NAR is run by monkeys...

Here's the evil-doers talking points:

September 28, 2007

NAR First Vice President Charles McMillan faced off with Jim Cramer on NBC’s Today Show, countering Cramer’s earlier irresponsible statement on the show telling consumers NOT to buy a house right now. Cramer would treat homes like stock purchases, and McMillan was there to tell him and consumers across the country that housing is not a day-trading activity – it’s a good, solid long-term investment that has proven its value over time. McMillan spoke for Realtors® everywhere as he countered misconceptions about the real estate market and drove home positive messages about the value of homeownership.

What’s Happening Now

Local media may be contacting you to develop related stories about the housing market and whether it’s a good time to buy a home.

Gather your local facts.

Use the talking points below to help prepare your local spokesperson.

You can view the Today Show interview with Charles McMillan at:
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=8f128f4c-3428-4f0e-9908-a803893ec6ce

Talking Points
Housing is a good long-term investment – it’s not a day-trading activity.

Owning a home isn’t just about investment, although that’s certainly important. It’s also about building community, a place of your own, and having a part of the American Dream.

Homes are not stocks. Most people stay in their home for about 6 years – they buy for the long haul to create a home for their family, not to buy then turn around and sell six months later.

It’s impossible to time any market. Right now, interest rates are favorable and buyers have lots of options.

For buyers able to qualify for conventional financing, there are ample opportunities in the current market. Conventional loans are available and rates are reasonable, and FHA-insured mortgage applications have been rising as low- and moderate-income buyers seek alternatives to subprime loans.

Two-thirds of metropolitan areas across the country are showing modest price gains, and the national median home price in August showed a slight increase.

Some examples of markets that have shown both increased sales volume and price (you should collect information from your own market and be prepared to talk about specifics in your own area):

Beaufort, TX
El Paso, TX
Farmington, NM
Salem, OR
Salt Lake City, UT
Spokane, WA

The average homeowner has seen an increase of 50 percent in value over the past five years. We project prices to rise about 2 percent next year, and in coming years, average home price appreciation should return to historical averages, around 6 percent.

Realtors® are passionate about helping people into homes and expanding homeownership opportunities. Realtors® live where they work and can see the benefits of homeownership firsthand.