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Can We Get Some Positive News From the Media?
By Ryan Ward | January 22, 2008
So what do you think? Next week, we are likely to see par 30 year fixed interest rates hit 5%. 5%!I for one hope that when (if) this happens that maybe a few folks over at the antiquated TV studios might have a talking head pop up somewhere and mention the good news. I won’t hold my breath. These guys have done nothing but pound uninformed and/or non-relevant information into the consumers brains for some time now and I don’t expect to see much change on the part of them and it really isn’t much of a surprise. The real estate sector could use a morale boost from them with as much negative information they have been “revealing”.
In my opinion, the “drive by media”, to borrow a phrase, has played a significant role in setting the tone and framing perceptions about the real estate market. Well, they aren’t going away anytime soon so I hope that maybe, just maybe, they can do a bit to pump some positive news back into consumers.
Lower rates and a turbulent stock market could potentially be the perfect storm needed to shake out the market, but, there is no certainty on this one. Typically a turbulent or down market will have investors looking for other more stable places to park money and the real estate market has benefited from this. The difference this time is that with the 2007 real estate market fresh in the minds of investors, they may be hesitant to move money there and more of the money may instead funnel into the bond market. With interest rates dropping to unbelievably low levels it can become almost free to borrow money once you factor in inflation. So, with a little boost from the big boys in the media, we really could get a positive shift.
So, what do you say?
Can We Get Some Positive News From The Media About The Real Estate Market?
Topics: Atlanta Real Estate |
January 24th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Hi Ryan,
You make very legit points about the uncertainty does make investors think of parking funds in more reliable places. I belive that as Realtors we should take a very proactive approach to educate clients/public that yes people do lose money in real estate like anything else. BUT many many more actually make small to large fortunes investing in it. And also you hit the nail on the head the current situations are a lot like 2002-2003 when we started to experience at least in Tucson AZ a lot of money flowing out of stocks and into homes.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:33 am
If we can see some positive trends and rates stay low, we could see a faster than expected balancing-out of the market. There’s just no way to accurately predict what is going to happen. Here in Atlanta, October and November looked good and then December tanked - which is against historical data and that makes what’s happening now a little uncertain. There’s a flurry of buyer activity, but, we’ll have to wait and see if it translates into sold homes or if buyers continue to sit it out…