In this morning’s Los Angeles Times is an article by Ann Brenoff entitled Realtor blogs help reel in clients, boost sales. Brenoff reported:
And then there is Housing Doom — written from Austin, Texas, by Debi Averett, who sold her Phoenix-area home "in 15 minutes" when she thought her husband had a job out of state. The job offer fell through just days before escrow closed, and the buyer held the couple to the contract. Averett and her family wound up renting and, given the rapid escalation of housing prices in the area, couldn’t afford to buy again.
I sent Ms. Brenoff the following response:
I saw your article today, and I must tell you, I am disappointed. After having the Washington Post report last December that I was "priced out of the market", I was very clear to you that I did not purchase a home in 2006 BECAUSE IT DID NOT MAKE FINANCIAL SENSE, not because I couldn’t afford it.
I weary of the media trying to portray me as the most pathetic financial figure in the nation. Somehow when even the unemployed and the underemployed were using liar and subprime loans to purchase millions of dollars in real estate, it keeps being reported that I "couldn’t afford to buy."I could make more money doing something else, but I do what I do to educate people- to encourage them to base their buying decisions on what makes economic sense for them, not on the feeling that the must "buy now or be priced out forever" or "fulfil the American Dream".
A lot of the folks that are in foreclosure are there because of the "you must buy a house if you can, no matter what the cost" attitude. I am disappointed that contrary to what you were told, you have made me appear to be one of those people.
You have it wrong. I RENT ON PURPOSE- AND I’M PROUD OF IT.
And Doomers, just in case Brenoff’s remarks have you worrying about me- it’s true blogging isn’t the most lucrative thing I could be doing. This has always been a labor of love. Mr. Twist however, continues to be my "sugar daddy" and keeps me off the streets. If I need any help though, I’ll let you know. : )
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Twist,
I rent and will continue till it makes sense to buy again. I have the means through years of saving, selling at peak in 2006, and an inheritance. I however will not throw good money into a bad investment.
Wow.
The article was pretty hostile to “bubble bloggers” and remarkably friendly to realtors.
Sorry, twist, but this kind of treatment comes with celebrity. Don’t let it get to you.
Maybe a “Media” link on the main page would help journalists who want to include your story in their article get their fact straight?
I like to use metrics, since people have a harder time willfully misunderstanding them.
I live in South SF Bay, and at 200x rent, I’ll start to shop. At 150x rent, I’ll consider purchasing to live in, and at 100x rent, I’ll take some of that rather large chunk of change I’ve saved by renting a get a couple of investment properties.
The biggest reaction I usually get is that “it’ll never get that cheap”, which just goes to show you that noone has a memory of the bust in ’91.
(BTW – it’s currently 320x rent, down from 400x.)
Media often get it wrong. In my job I at times deal with local media and they will often misquote or shorten a quote to bolster their “angle”. BTW my daughter won a local spelling bee last week and the local paper reported it, they misspelled our last name. Figures!
Twist,
I am certain you are aware of this but here it goes anyway.
The people responsible for these reports are not confined to a single person or group. They are quite a large group of people and organizations that have made a lot of money from the real estate markets and depend solely on its existence (or are influenced by people who are dependent on it)to continue to earn a living because they have no technical skills or aptitude for anything else. Some simply are disillusioned and believe that things will turn in another few months. Other know that they will be left with nothing in those few short months and simply don’t like it.
If they can discredit you or the overwhelming growing community of people waking up to what has happened, perhaps the lawsuits may not come and the market will falsely inflate again soon……….yeah right. This is the very core of people that promoted the hype and really don’t like being “outed”. Tough!
Unfortunately, there are still a large number of people that buy into the media spins….. I call them victims or sheeple.
It’s obvious that your efforts are working, so be flattered, not offended. For the record, I appreciate your efforts here whether I agree with a specific topic or not. Just my two cents….
twist,
they (media and realtors) have to paint this picture of you (and the website, along with all of us). We must all have been priced out of the market. We must all be bitter, pesimistic, doom and gloomers who have lost our minds. You see, if anything else were true; if we were bright, if we made decisions to rent based on sound financial reasons, if we discussed the bursting bubble in the housing market and actually knew what we were talking about, well then there would be millions of people that are still in denial that would have to begin facing reality. And whoever wants to face reality?
twist,
an added note:
I purchased in a somewhat down market immediately befor the “crash” started in another TX market because it is the lifestyle I wanted for my family and not my primary means of investing. It is my home and not included in a “portfolio”.
There are also a large number of “owners” who know the truth of the market. Just because it isn’t the best news does not make it less true! :0)
twist,
Let me take this chance to thank you once again for providing this website and fountain of information, even admist such ridiculous mis-statements by the MSM.
I too am a renter with enough money to buy, but who wants to get my money’s worth.
How absolutely unprofessional of these journalists to print such wrong facts about you, either from assumptions they dreamed up while choosing to ignore what you directly told them, or (!) even worse by purposely choosing to lie about you.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the MSM is dead. Many of us just don’t realize it, but it is truly inevitable.
Why does anybody still pay good hard-earned money for crap reporting like that, not to mentioned biased agendas from the owner/editors? Just so we can kill a tree by generating a couple pounds of waste paper daily, pollute our land-fills with ink, and be spoon-fed incorrect facts by overzealous journalists and their right or left-leaning editors/owners?
Thank goodness we’re getting away from the stong age and more and more of us are realizing that the internet frees us from this crap by giving us almost unlimited choice and ability to weigh facts and discern falsehoods in an instant.
Up until recently, in the land of the blind the one-eyed (MSM) man was king. Thanks to the internet, this is no longer the land of the blind.
Hi,
I used to rent to two journalists from the LA Times. To say they weren’t the sharpest is an understatement.
The most important part of any viewpoint is: where is the money coming from?. The LA Times RE section used to be absolutely huge a year ago. As a rough estimate I would say it has declined 80%.
Who are they going to care more for? Their readers or the tens of millions of advertising dollars that have recently walked.
It’s funny, the media, they shape and change stories so they can tell the public what they think the public wants to hear.
The last time I was put on the television news it was the weirdest experience. I didnt get to say anything I wanted, it was a complete setup.
It is nice to see media outlets give some credit to bloggers.
Right on Twist!!!!
Libel suit! Libel suit!!
Hey, isn’t everyone getting into the lawsuit thing over mortages, too?
Thanks for the blog. An outpost of sanity ..
All of us renters are just pathetic losers, who sleep very soundly at night!
Chin up, Twist. Stories like this are merely the death rattle of the MSM.
– The Judge
What a bunch of bozo’s. They are getting desperate. The MSM/realstate people keep saying that people are waiting on the sidelines. Although I am one of those people waiting on the sidelines, most people simply cannot afford a house. In fact a lot of people cannot afford basic necessities.
On a side note, my sister was trying to get me to buy a house in her neighborhood because a certain house model had drop from 300,000 to 190,000. She went on to say that a neighbor had attended a realstate seminar and they said that prices were going to go up after this summer. I gave her reasons why they would go down, she could not give me any reasons why they go up. In fact even a lot of the MSM is saying prices will go down. I also told her that I have been right for 3 years and know what I am talking about. Sorry for the rant, but I just can’t believe that people are still falling for these lies.
Thanks for the nice comments guys. I know I shouldn’t let these guys get to me, but I end up thinking, “Casey Serin bought 7 properties, and they think I couldn’t have bought one?”
I can live with being bad-mouthed, but I wish they’d get their facts straight. Now I’m wondering if Britney Spears is sane after all….
I think the LA Times real estate section is about to shrink a bit more…
Sure looks like real estate sales across the entire USA for January are artificially high…
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080210/BUSINESS04/802100686
“They were set to close Feb. 15 on their 1,190-square-foot house across the street from an elementary school. But their broker at Citizens First Mortgage called last week and said if they didn’t close by Jan. 31, they would lose the zero-down option.
The rush to close on zero-down deals is the result of a letter that mortgage backer Fannie Mae sent to lenders in December reiterating its rule that requires a minimum 5% down payment on homes sold in declining markets.”
Twist,
Don’t let them get to you. They’re the ones sweating buckets as the desperation of a crashing real estate market sinks in. It’s the classic “Blame the Messenger” and if they can’t blame you directly they’ll make you look bad so they look good, smarter, more holy, or whatever.
Twist, Don’t be fooled by media “independence”. Real estate listings have always been a HUGE source of revenue for newspapers, and times are tough. The Los Angeles Times is a property of the Tribune Company which was recently purchased by Sam Zell. Yes, THAT Sam Zell. The one who sold is multi-billion dollar commercial real estate holdings in 2006-2007. What timing. The man is a genius. What does he know that the Times doesn’t want their readers to know? There has been much grumbling at Tribune properties lately – I personally know three journalists – with respect to what direction the papers will be going. By all accounts it looks like lighter fluffy, feel good is going to trump newsworthy articles. Think USA Today on a local level. Ms. Brenoff’s masters have spoken and she has barked on command. That she could speak positively about several of the absolute worst real estate markets in the country confounds the senses. Keep up the good work.
The writers must write. They rarely take the time to understand the subtleties re: the topics about which they are then writing.
Ever listen to NPR or MSM, when you have done the prior work of understanding? They’re a joke.
What this joke tells you is the bottom is not “in” yet. The writers need the zing of a coup because the story is disheartening. By embarrassing you, their readership can feel more empowered and better than some other poor shnook who assumedly missed the rise up in prices.
Later, when the bottom is in and the losers have lost and are buried, you’ll be painted as one of the wise ones. But that’s later…much later, after the Depression, after the 40-60% + haircut in prices.
At that time, those writers may not be employed. However, it should be worthwhile for you to obtain a few copies of that edition, and store them, and…if you’re bold about it, write the article that will appear in 5 years or longer; do it now. Post it here, so it will be easier for the then “news” writers to pick up the story and plagiarize, or extract from it. Do ‘em a favor; write it now.
GaudiaRay-
To a certain extent I’m sympathetic with these reporters- I crank out over 50 posts a month- often on topics that would be worthy of a PhD dissertation. Obviously I don’t have the time or resources to do that, but I want the topics and the discussion out there, so I do the best I can, try and explain the limitations to my research and pray I’ve got it right.
Make no mistake though, the “news industry” is an “entertainment industry”. If reporters don’t write what people to hear, papers aren’t sold. That, and their advertising revenue, is what sells their product.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve got my own bias- I’m a bear and a conservative, and that affects my view of the housing market. I try to balance that though with bullish articles on the sidebar [even if I do occasionally poke fun at them] and a determination to keep things accurate.
I wish I saw that desire for accuracy more in the media- there is way too much lazy reporting out there.
Heya Twist, long time no write (although I am still an avid reader).
No sympathy here. The reporter mis-stated FACTS. That is far worse than spin, it is fabrication. If it were me being insulted, I wouldn’t hesitate to call her boss and jump down his/her throat.
Looks like yellow journalism didn’t die with Hearst.
Listen, why not confess that you are the Amy Winehouse of real estate? that you’re a drugged out rocker who couldn’t make the payments and your rental is Section 8. Oh, and by the way that you’re a terrorist. This would explain why you are badmouthing our housing market. I can hear it now…
“They try to put Twist into ReMax and she say No no no.”
I think the media needs to be nice to us renters. We are the only ones that can afford a house right now. Aren’t we the ones saving money and not underwater in a mortgage. Although I’ve had it thrown in my face on many occasions I was smiling then and laughing at them now. They will need to grovel and beg us to buy a house soon enough.
Twist,
I’ve had a couple of opportunities to speak with reporters over the years and more often than not things do not come out as intended. Now, I avoid them at all cost.
By the way, read this and you’ll cheer right up. Unfortunately the RJ reporting is not improving and they seem unable to find any local people to balance opinions. Enjoy!
http://www.lvrj.com/business/15474541.html
Spud-
Good to hear from you–
I’m afraid she pretty much got it all wrong. She also said that my husband “thought he had a job”. Well yeah, since he’d been working out of state for a month, he had pretty much come to that conclusion. We weren’t dumb enough to put the house on the market just THINKING he had another job.
Mr. Twist discovered after working for these guys for a few weeks that they had misrepresented the company’s financial situation to him, so he called me a couple of days before closing and said he thought moving the family out of state was a bad idea.
I guess if you are going to get it wrong, you might as well get it all wrong.
Rebel-
Good to see you are around too.
So now we have Kelley for comic relief. I think an ability to do standup is a prerequisite for heading the GLVAR.
Bottfeld is also true to form. Last year he said he would “bet the house” that prices wouldn’t fall in Vegas, and now he’s predicting price rises.
I wonder what kind of odds he give for that bet this year?