Article from San Diego’s North County Times. It is wrong in so many ways including a comment by George Chamberlain that is sounding desperate.
From: North County Times
“Realtors offer sunny outlook for 2008”
By: ZACH FOX – Staff Writer
Housing brokers blame lenders, media for market’s fall | Friday, March 7, 2008 8:27 PM PST
SAN MARCOS —- Real estate agents said during a conference Friday that the region’s sagging housing market has started to bounce back and blamed the media and banks for delaying the recovery.
About 75 agents attended the conference at Cal State San Marcos, and all who spoke offered a positive outlook for North County’s housing market in 2008. They said they are starting to see multiple offers on homes and packed open house events, which they said point to a housing market recovery that is under way.
Sponsored by the North San Diego County Association of Realtors, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and the North County Times among others, the conference’s morning session focused on the interplay between housing development and energy, water and transportation needs.
The last portion of the conference, a question-and-answer session, admonished the media for depressing consumer confidence by focusing on only the negative aspects of housing data. Agents also accused banks of delaying a market recovery by not responding in a timely fashion to short sale requests —- offers to buy homes in danger of foreclosure for less than the sale amount.
“Trying to get through to the lending institution is nearly impossible,” said Jim Aldredge, owner of JTA Realty in San Marcos. He said it takes multiple conversations to get one offer accepted. “It’s like they say, ‘Today’s red ink day, and you’ve sent it in blue ink.’ It’s that asinine.”
George Chamberlin, a panelist at the event and columnist for the North County Times, said that some news reporters biased their reports because they are jealous of homeowners.
Most real estate agents who spoke at the conference seemed to agree, with one agent suggesting that agents and builders pull all advertising from newspapers until positive articles are printed.
“People think the market is down and the market will still go down. That’s not the truth. The market is down, but it’s not going down anymore,” said John Tuccillo, former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. “I think it’s because consumers focus on national news and not enough on local news.”
San Diego County is among the nation’s leaders in home price decline, losing 19 percent in value from a peak in 2005, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index. January sales in North County fell almost 50 percent from 2005, according to a report by the North San Diego County Association of Realtors.
Marney Cox, a panelist at the event and economist for the San Diego Association of Governments, said talk of a market recovery is premature.
“What I heard today is the market is turning around,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve hit bottom yet. … We’re not going to see a bottom until third quarter this year.”
Other economists have said that it will take even longer, predicting two to four years before the market starts to recover.
If the media stopped reporting the defaults and foreclosures, that doesn’t mean the defaults and foreclosures stop. If no one QUALIFIES to buy a house due to the tightening lending standards, then who will buy these houses?
I’m confused again. How is the market turning around and who is doing all the buying of the overpriced houses? Who meets the debt to income ratios required by lenders?
If the media stopped reporting the defaults and foreclosures, that doesn’t mean the defaults and foreclosures stop. If no one QUALIFIES to buy a house due to the tightening lending standards, then who will buy these houses?
I’m confused again. How is the market turning around and who is doing all the buying of the overpriced houses? Who meets the debt to income ratios required by lenders?
If the media stopped reporting the defaults and foreclosures, that doesn’t mean the defaults and foreclosures stop. If no one QUALIFIES to buy a house due to the tightening lending standards, then who will buy these houses?
I’m confused again. How is the market turning around and who is doing all the buying of the overpriced houses? Who meets the debt to income ratios required by lenders?
If the media stopped reporting the defaults and foreclosures, that doesn’t mean the defaults and foreclosures stop. If no one QUALIFIES to buy a house due to the tightening lending standards, then who will buy these houses?
I’m confused again. How is the market turning around and who is doing all the buying of the overpriced houses? Who meets the debt to income ratios required by lenders?
If the media stopped reporting the defaults and foreclosures, that doesn’t mean the defaults and foreclosures stop. If no one QUALIFIES to buy a house due to the tightening lending standards, then who will buy these houses?
I’m confused again. How is the market turning around and who is doing all the buying of the overpriced houses? Who meets the debt to income ratios required by lenders?
