Every time I read the paper or listen to the news, I get mad. Really mad. In the last 30 days, the New York Times published the following headlines:
“Plunging Housing Markets . . . Down Again”
“Home Prices Suffer Record Monthly Drop”
“Bank Closures at All Time High in 2008”
“Credit Crisis Waves Roll On”
“Growing Market in Foreclosures”
“Foreclosure Rates Show No Sign of Slowing”
“States Unemployment Funds Run Low”
And the bad news goes on and on, causing panic and fear until we become our own worst self-fulfilling prophecy. Here’s my beef. It’s media hype. No it’s worse than media hype. It’s a vast media distortion, used to sensationalize and sell the news. It’s not the first time the media has done this, but now it has hit close to home. Close to your home, close to your client’s home and your livelihood. The result is that the American homebuyer is naively buying the lie and hesitating to buy that home they need.
Another beef I have is that perhaps even a few of you Realtors reading this blog have been sitting in your own family rooms reading and watching those headlines, and you’ve believed the hype yourselves.
Why? Because, like me and everyone else who reads the papers, watches it on the TV and hears it on the radio, we think that just because the mainstream media says it, then, by golly, it’s gotta be true. Pundits know that if they repeat anything long enough, people believe it.
Well I’ve got a few surprising facts here that were shared in a speech given by my good friend Utah Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert. He and I worked together years ago to establish the Utah Chapter of the Council of Residential Specialists. OK, here’s what he shared with us:
“Bank Closures at an All Time High in 2008”.
Hogwash!
In 1989 there were 1,004 bank closures.
In 2008 there
were 30 bank closures
On average there are 94 bank closures per year
“Foreclosure Rates Show No Sign of Slowing”.
Baloney!
During the Great Depression Foreclosure Rates were 50%
Nationally
today our Foreclosure Rates are 3% (1.4% in Utah)
“States Unemployment Funds Run Low”. Ridiculous!
During
the Great Depression Unemployment ran at 25%
Nationally today our
Unemployment is 7.2%
As Realtors, I challenge you to join me in confronting the main stream media in your own locations. Spread this information on your blogs, in all your social networking, and you can even join my WebStar Network. It’s the real truth. It’s not hype. I say let’s fight back and take back the one industry that is at the heart of the American Dream — the Real Estate Industry — and bring this whole mess, this nation and the world back from chaos. The one best weapon that you have at your disposal is the truth!
Are times right now bad? Yes. Do we have a shaky market? Yes. But FDR’s famous statement applies: “The only thing we need to fear is fear itself.” It’s time to start looking at our glass as 93% full rather than 7% empty. We need to look at putting 15-20% down payment and say what’s wrong with that? That’s been a standard in real estate for years – a safe standard. We need to look at qualifying procedures and make sure that we are selling homes to people who can afford them.
We are the grass roots of the economy, and we can make a difference. We can take it back. All we need to do is to tell our buyers and sellers the truth about what is going on and stop the panic. If there is insanity going on it is in the pundits that look for all the bad news to make sensationalism sell their message.
Our message should be: America is good. America is strong. America is proud.
Randy Eagar, CRS
www.WebsTarget.com
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