IGNORE THE HEADLINES!

REAL ESTATE NEWS: IGNORE THE HEADLINES!

The news is full of ominous statements about the world of residential real estate: FORECLOSURES DOUBLE! HOME SALES AT WORST LEVELS IN LAST TEN YEARS! NEW REQUIREMENTS CLAMP DOWN ON MORTGAGE MARKET!

You see and hear them every day. Over and over again. Why? Because negative headlines sell. They grab your attention. If the news media has learned nothing else, it is that bad news sells better than good news. Disaster is more interesting than harmony. Consequentially, headlines that make it sound as if the world is coming to an end.

My advice: Ignore the headlines. Headlines almost always ignore context and rarely hint at local differences. If you are interested in the topic, read the whole article, listen to the entire program, do comparative research . . . but DO NOT ASSUME THAT A HEADLINE ACCURATELY DESCRIBES THE TRUTH! It might from time to time, but it is a better bet that it does not. Particularly, as it applies to you and your market.

EXAMPLE: Buried inside an internet article I read yesterday with the headline “HOME SALES, PRICES DECLINE” (from the Wall Street Journal) was the tidbit in the last paragraph that residential sales in the mid-west in January were 3.4% higher. If you failed to read every paragraph and every sentence, you missed it.

EXAMPLE: The headline “WORST SALES FIGURES IN TEN YEARS!” has shown up many times in recent months. And for our area, this is accurate. What is also true, however, is that the last ten years have produced record sales levels. Residential sales for 2007 clobbered those of the early 80’s—including 85% more homes sold than in 1982! Further, more homes sold in the Greater Kalamazoo area in 2007 than in any year prior to 1997!

In short: all real estate is local, take the headlines with a large grain of salt and, in the words of Paul Harvey, get “the rest of the story.” Not all headlines apply to Michigan. Not all Michigan news refers to our area. Not all local information matters in your neighborhood. For an in-depth picture of the local market and, more particularly, your corner of it, give us a call. 269-488-0236

www.jaredarnold.com