I hate reporters and love real estate agents. The reason is simple: journalists are negative people who will write about anything if it gets them what they want; while realtors are honest, rational people who will do what it takes to protect the interests of the American homeowner.Why are reporters evil? Because they can’t handle money and waste their entire salary on useless things like alcohol and drugs. While this would not normally upset me, I’m furious because these people have now realized that they can WASTE all their money and still get what they want. How? By inventing a crisis—in particular, the housing crisis. Aware that they would never be able to save enough money for a down payment on an overpriced house, reporters did the next best thing—they forced down the price of housing by writing about the market, according to National Association of Realtors economist, Laurence Yun.
Yun told Forbes magazine that realtors are blaming the media the present crisis. “Potential buyers spend a week or two looking at several homes before backing out at the last minute, saying it is not the right time to buy,” he said.
This has pushed housing prices down to levels not seen in many years. While this is good news for reporters looking to pick up a bargain, it’s bad news for homeowners who are being forced to sell their over-valued houses at a loss.
Leading the attack against the media mafia is former NAR chief economist, David Lereah, who is upset that journalists have stolen his thunder and replaced his predictions with their own. In 2005, his book: 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, he said only idiots would resist the urge to invest in property—and he would have been right if the greedy journalists hadn’t turned his book into a piece of fiction.
Instead of 2006 existing home sales falling 3.7 percent to 6.84 million, as the NAR told Slate, they fell 8.6 percent to 6.47 million. And instead of new home sales falling 4.8 percent to 1.23 million, they fell 17.8 percent to 1.06 million.
Not content that reporters made a mockery of their 2006 predictions, the NAR had another go in 2007. But journalists proved that they still wielded all the power and yet again made mince meat out of the NAR. This year, sales of existing homes are expected to fall to 5.6 million instead of the 6.4 million the NAR predicted, and new homes will come in at 788,000—a fall of 25 percent—instead of the 957,000 the NAR predicted.
Not to be outdone by the media, the NAR predicts that things will change in 2008. “Most of the correction in home prices is behind us, but general gains in value next year will be modest by historical standards,” said Lereah. The NAR says existing home sales will rise to 5.7 million, and the median home price will rise 0.3 percent, while new homes sales will fall 12 percent to 693,000.
That is if the reporters play along. I’m guessing that the NAR will be right next year as all the journalists now have what they want—the house of their dreams at a rock-bottom price. Now that they’re all home owners, I’m sure they’ll start writing about how well the market is doing so they can start making money like the rest of us.
To stay one step in front of the competition, check out my latest book: Dr. Young’s Guide to Demotivating Employees at Dolyttle & Seamore.
While I don’t really have any interest in hearing what you have to say about anything, if you have a burning desire to get something off your chest, email me: dryoung@demotivationist.com.
