I feel for where you are coming from. This type of “advertising” is becoming more and more popular (aka GM ads in Car&Driver that look like actual magazine reviews, etc.). However, I still believe it is the consumers job to educate themselves and, while not always, if they get fleeced because they choose not to educate themselves so be it. The UT is a business and they make money by advertising sales. Whether we like them or not.

While I suppose this works for some, I start reading every page at the bottom, and if it says ‘Advertisment’ there I turn the page… For me these ads are less effective than standard ones.

Rich will never write such article. He’s not a maverick out to change the status quo. He’s now a talking-head who needs to mince his words. He’s not about rail against the Real Estate industry and call San Diego home buyers the “dumbest in the nation.” I don’t know Rich, just my view.

http://kpbs.org/tv/full_focus;id=9112

Wow, he lost some weight! Much more telegenic.

“He’s now a talking-head who needs to mince his words.”

Perry, I find your post offensive. When asked a question, I answer it with facts, and not with dramatic statements, stories, or personal attacks. If you don’t like this style that’s fine, but that’s what I’ve set out to do and it doesn’t justify your implication that i am being dishonest.

I would never write that SD home buyers are the “dumbest in the nation” because it would be entirely pointless to do so. Seriously, what would that accomplish, and how does it add anything to the debate? This is about facts, not name-calling.

As for railing on the REIC, I am stunned by you saying I would never do that as I have repeatedly laid into Lereah, Chamberlin, and the various bottom callers that appear in the local media. Use the search to the left if you require proof.

BTW regarding what you wrote in this thread: http://piggington.com/media_appearance_0#comment , saying “some people would disagree” was an obvious (or so I thought) joke in reference to the fact that so many RE people have bagged so hard on me over the years.

Sorry if I have misunderstood you but I have zero tolerance of people accusing me of being dishonest and I caught more than a whiff of it in your post.

rich: it would have been nice if you’d have laid into that moron penner for her part in talking up the “housing shortage”. and the way she frames her questions, “people with poor income, bad credit and minority communities being targeted”… as if the problem is confined to the “bad part of society”. and “everyone wants to live in san diego, why has home sales dropped”… like, obviously, wanting to live somewhere is going to depend on the price, not to mention, living somewhere doesn’t assume buying a home there.

god, i hate that moron.

Man, I’m in big trouble now!

Rich, sorry if I offended. I didn’t mean to. Of course, your delivery style should be what works best for you.

Perhaps it’s only me. But I’d like to hear the plain unvarnished truth in real estate as well as in life in general — someone to tell us we screwed up bad and now need to face the facts.

Rich, I know that’s not your job. Thank you for providing this great forum for us to discuss real estate and other matters. In that regard, you’ve done a great deal to promote real estate and financial literacy. This site is contributing everyday to changing how is real estate is bought and sold, and how information is dessiminated. You’ve done a lot already to take on the status quo and the REIC.

———-

The real estate bubble and it’s consequences was not just caused by innocent home buyers getting in a little over their heads and buying more than they could afford. That implies that buyers were working so hard and aiming for the American dream that they got sidetracked (and thus were victims). It was a confluence of easy money, greed, fraud and deception that inflated the bubble.

In any field, the bulls are always pie-in-the-sky but the realists have to sugarcoat the bad news else they are labeled as negative and irresponsible. In my view, we need a good dose of realism. Why is it that realists have to be a little self-deprecating to get an audience?

OK Perry, it looks like maybe I took your post the wrong way a bit. Sorry about the touchy response. The whole point of this site has always been to tell the truth about what’s driving the housing market (something which was in short supply when I first started the site), and I’ve put a lot of effort into spreading that truth. I’m not looking for accolades, here, the point is to explain that after what I see as a very time-consuming effort on my part to promote the truth, I get (very) easily riled when I think someone is accusing me of being dishonest.

I couldn’t agree more with your assessment of the bubble, and I don’t believe people are innocent victims. If I gave that impression I didn’t mean to. Ms. Penner said something about subprime lenders victimizing people, but it was part of another question and I just let it drop because the “who’s to blame” question is a whole other topic that would have sidetracked the conversation, and imho it’s a less important one than the “what happens next” one that I tried to focus on.

I also agree with your observations that realists are often more circumspect. In a sense, I think that’s just part of being intellectually honest, unlike the permabulls. But either way I don’t worry about it much because I am just glad that realists are finally getting to air their opinions in the mainstream places — for a very long time, that wasn’t happening at all.

BTW thanks for the props on the telegenicity. 😉