Look what one medium – this Web site – has just done.
We have a commenter, Ecker, who misrepresents what a Realtor said in the video.
The agent, Lyn Flannery, said that some sellers didn’t go to market last year because of the media. She also said that the media didn’t accurately report the differences between the North Shore market and the overall market. She also tells a lot of truth about falling prices and an inventory glut.
She made no suggestion that buyers were scared away by the media that I heard – and I was there.
What does YoChicago’s staffer do? Amplify the distorting effect of the comment, by calling it out as the comment of the day.
Is this biased reporting, in the form of bringing undue attention to an inaccurate comment? Looks like it to me.
Did YoChicago’s reporter watch the video, and match it up with Ecker’s comment? Hard to tell.
This has all the appearance of making the story fit a pre-conceived agenda that I’ve been ranting about for some time.
Okay, Joe. You got me. She said “sellers” and I heard “buyers”. Honest mistake.
But isn’t my point still valid? Ms. Flannery blames “the media” for causing sellers to not put their homes on the market last year. But it’s a two way street: A seller can’t sell a house without a buyer. Presumably, sellers were not putting their houses up for sale because they feared they wouldn’t be able to sell them in a reasonable time at their hoped-for price (due to lack of eager buyers).
So my question (in modified form) still stands: What is/was scaring people away from engaging in residential real estate transactions? Is/was it “the media”? Or is/was it the reality of unsustainable increases in asking prices, slightly higher mortgage rates and a (reasonable) desire to see how things are going to shake out?
After carefully reviewing the video I realize Ms. Flannery was limiting the scope of her comments to the North Shore, but I find it hard to believe that “the media” is the only force to blame.
By the way, Joe, what is this “pre-conceived agenda” of which you speak?
Ecker,
The media, in general, have a strong bias toward the proposition that there is an ongoing housing bubble. Too many ambiguous facts have been interpreted in a way that advances that proposition, and too few facts that go against it have been reported, and too little context has been provided for what has been reported.
You’re restating the reality of the situation accurately enough, and I’m not disputing it. Nor was Ms Flannery, who is pretty blunt about the state of pricing and inventory on the North Shore. Isn’t she?
She may – or may not – be accurate in having said that the media biased people against putting their homes on the market.
Flannery is simply reporting how she saw sellers reacting, and what they were telling her, and neither of us I believe is in much of a position to dispute that. Sellers may very well have simply acted upon the generic reports they were reading in the media without inquiring adequately into whether those reports held true in their local market.
Sales in Wilmette in 2006 declined about 10% from the 2005 levels, which were high. That’s far from a disaster, and there were buyers buying. And, sellers who were able to wait a year to put their home on the market were obviously in a position to put them on the market earlier and hold out for their price.
I suspect that you and I would probably agree that media reports have some impact on buyer and seller behavior, and that the reporting could and should have been more balanced and nuanced.
People have finally realized that overpaying for a house is NOT the way to getting rich.
Buy now or you’ll be priced out forever!
Mr Odujoko…i agree with statement o! buy now or you’ll be one of those people that will say in about 5years “there was a time these buildings were worth $$$ and now they’re worth $$$$, i should’ve bought then”…till today, my father says the same about the townhome he used to live in bronzeville that was worth $120K in the 70’s and was recently posted on the market rehabbed in the mid $600K !!!
Could it be that the housing market “honeymoon” of the past few years has been replaced by the “boredom” that often sets in with so many marriages? Because I work primarily with buyers I go to lots of brokers’ and public open houses to get a glimpse of what’s coming on the market…and in the last year or so I’ve been seeing way too much of the same old…”stuff.” It’s getting to the point where I could put on a blindfold upon entering and know exactly where the fancy fireplace is located in the living room…now on to the open kitchen with granite/stainless…now down a step to the “family room”…now up the stairs to the master suite with oversize bath and undersize closets…you get my drift. Now maybe this is “agent fatigue” setting in and a layperson may still be able to get excited about looking at something like this, but honestly if the agent is bored stiff with the “product,” how can s/he be expected in many cases to stimulate any enthusiasm for a property to the clients? Chances are, they’ve been also checking out the Web sites and open houses and may also be disappointed with the lack of creativity in so much of our current housing.
Believe me, when I see a creative “out of the box” design, well-priced for my client’s budget, I do my best to convince that client that we should see this place and bid on it quickly, because some other bored-to-death buyer is going to also see it and maybe get ahead of us!
As far as I’m concerned, the designers and marketers of these over-priced “McMansions” and look-alike 6-flat condo conversions are getting what has been coming to them for a long time now.
Creative People, step up to the plate…the game is yours to win!
*prices are scaring buyers
*ARM loans are scaring buyers
*reality is scaring buyers
Joe Zekas said:
Ecker,
The media, in general, have a strong bias toward the proposition that there is an ongoing housing bubble. Too many ambiguous facts have been interpreted in a way that advances that proposition, and too few facts that go against it have been reported, and too little context has been provided for what has been reported.
The media was and still is prepetuating the husing bubble. Open any newspaper. Count all the RE related ads. You’ll get bored before your done counting!
Look what one medium – this Web site – has just done.
We have a commenter, Ecker, who misrepresents what a Realtor said in the video.
The agent, Lyn Flannery, said that some sellers didn’t go to market last year because of the media. She also said that the media didn’t accurately report the differences between the North Shore market and the overall market. She also tells a lot of truth about falling prices and an inventory glut.
She made no suggestion that buyers were scared away by the media that I heard – and I was there.
What does YoChicago’s staffer do? Amplify the distorting effect of the comment, by calling it out as the comment of the day.
Is this biased reporting, in the form of bringing undue attention to an inaccurate comment? Looks like it to me.
Did YoChicago’s reporter watch the video, and match it up with Ecker’s comment? Hard to tell.
This has all the appearance of making the story fit a pre-conceived agenda that I’ve been ranting about for some time.
Okay, Joe. You got me. She said “sellers” and I heard “buyers”. Honest mistake.
But isn’t my point still valid? Ms. Flannery blames “the media” for causing sellers to not put their homes on the market last year. But it’s a two way street: A seller can’t sell a house without a buyer. Presumably, sellers were not putting their houses up for sale because they feared they wouldn’t be able to sell them in a reasonable time at their hoped-for price (due to lack of eager buyers).
So my question (in modified form) still stands: What is/was scaring people away from engaging in residential real estate transactions? Is/was it “the media”? Or is/was it the reality of unsustainable increases in asking prices, slightly higher mortgage rates and a (reasonable) desire to see how things are going to shake out?
After carefully reviewing the video I realize Ms. Flannery was limiting the scope of her comments to the North Shore, but I find it hard to believe that “the media” is the only force to blame.
By the way, Joe, what is this “pre-conceived agenda” of which you speak?
Ecker,
The media, in general, have a strong bias toward the proposition that there is an ongoing housing bubble. Too many ambiguous facts have been interpreted in a way that advances that proposition, and too few facts that go against it have been reported, and too little context has been provided for what has been reported.
You’re restating the reality of the situation accurately enough, and I’m not disputing it. Nor was Ms Flannery, who is pretty blunt about the state of pricing and inventory on the North Shore. Isn’t she?
She may – or may not – be accurate in having said that the media biased people against putting their homes on the market.
Flannery is simply reporting how she saw sellers reacting, and what they were telling her, and neither of us I believe is in much of a position to dispute that. Sellers may very well have simply acted upon the generic reports they were reading in the media without inquiring adequately into whether those reports held true in their local market.
Sales in Wilmette in 2006 declined about 10% from the 2005 levels, which were high. That’s far from a disaster, and there were buyers buying. And, sellers who were able to wait a year to put their home on the market were obviously in a position to put them on the market earlier and hold out for their price.
I suspect that you and I would probably agree that media reports have some impact on buyer and seller behavior, and that the reporting could and should have been more balanced and nuanced.
People have finally realized that overpaying for a house is NOT the way to getting rich.
Buy now or you’ll be priced out forever!
Mr Odujoko…i agree with statement o! buy now or you’ll be one of those people that will say in about 5years “there was a time these buildings were worth $$$ and now they’re worth $$$$, i should’ve bought then”…till today, my father says the same about the townhome he used to live in bronzeville that was worth $120K in the 70’s and was recently posted on the market rehabbed in the mid $600K !!!
Could it be that the housing market “honeymoon” of the past few years has been replaced by the “boredom” that often sets in with so many marriages? Because I work primarily with buyers I go to lots of brokers’ and public open houses to get a glimpse of what’s coming on the market…and in the last year or so I’ve been seeing way too much of the same old…”stuff.” It’s getting to the point where I could put on a blindfold upon entering and know exactly where the fancy fireplace is located in the living room…now on to the open kitchen with granite/stainless…now down a step to the “family room”…now up the stairs to the master suite with oversize bath and undersize closets…you get my drift. Now maybe this is “agent fatigue” setting in and a layperson may still be able to get excited about looking at something like this, but honestly if the agent is bored stiff with the “product,” how can s/he be expected in many cases to stimulate any enthusiasm for a property to the clients? Chances are, they’ve been also checking out the Web sites and open houses and may also be disappointed with the lack of creativity in so much of our current housing.
Believe me, when I see a creative “out of the box” design, well-priced for my client’s budget, I do my best to convince that client that we should see this place and bid on it quickly, because some other bored-to-death buyer is going to also see it and maybe get ahead of us!
As far as I’m concerned, the designers and marketers of these over-priced “McMansions” and look-alike 6-flat condo conversions are getting what has been coming to them for a long time now.
Creative People, step up to the plate…the game is yours to win!
*prices are scaring buyers
*ARM loans are scaring buyers
*reality is scaring buyers
Joe Zekas said:
Ecker,
The media, in general, have a strong bias toward the proposition that there is an ongoing housing bubble. Too many ambiguous facts have been interpreted in a way that advances that proposition, and too few facts that go against it have been reported, and too little context has been provided for what has been reported.
The media was and still is prepetuating the husing bubble. Open any newspaper. Count all the RE related ads. You’ll get bored before your done counting!