Every day, I turn on the television expecting to hear something different.  We are being constantly bombarded with “news” of the housing economy on a national scale being in crisis.  The local media is attempting to paint a similar picture of our micro-economy as well.  However, there’s one article that you should know about that isn’t being reported very loudly.  Why is that? 

Is it because owners of television stations, magazines and newspapers have figured out that if they report “crisis” news stories, we’ll tune in or buy?  That’s my theory.  With the election seven days away, if the media starts reporting that the housing markets haven’t crashed, but rather are rebounding nicely it won’t sell airtime or newspapers.  The fact is, we’ll go on with our regular lives and not worry about our jobs, our homes or the direction of the nation’s economy if they report all is well.  That won’t help the media companies to stay profitable, as their viewership or readership would decline.

When we’re in panic mode, we tend to pay attention and stay tuned more to the news (which is what advertisers love to hear).  Heck, I’ll bet the headline for this blog post is what made you click “read the rest…”.  You want to know if the Columbia housing market has actually tanked.  Sorry to disappoint you, but it isn’t true.  Things are slow, but that’s expected this time of year.  Truth is, national sales of pre-existing homes had a 5.5% increase in September 2008, the biggest jump since July 2003.

The National Association of Realtors has reported that we on pace to sell 5,180,000 homes in 2008.  Economists had previously thought we’d only sell 4.93 million this year.  The largest segment of housing, single family homes, had a 6.2% increase in sales and condominiums “held steady”, according to this particular Reuters article.

If you can sense frustration out of me, it is true.  I am growing increasingly frustrated with the media who keep us up nights, worried about the security of our savings accounts, the future of our 401(k)s and the value of our homes.  To be at this constant level of stress is not good for us as a nation, but as a media outlet owner (such as a newspaper or television station) it’s great for business.  The only thing I want is for ALL the news to be reported, such as this Reuters article, which shows our housing economy has not failed.  It’s obvious that the stories are being ‘cherry picked’ to maximize the number of readers or viewers for the media outlets.

To read the Reuters article that states the facts in regards to our national housing market, click here.

Your “No Bull” Realtor,

Kathy Smith
Russell & Jeffcoat Realtors, Inc.
(888) 808-4Moo ext. 0
(803) 781-5729
http://www.kathy.smith.net/