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Realtors: Media to blame for current housing market
Thelma Grimes
Vail Sun
Agreeing with the senior vice president of the National Association of Realtors, local Realtor Joe Machado said the pessimistic portrayal of the housing market by the national media is creating an atmosphere of reluctant buyers.
During the Tucson Association of Realtors 2008 Forecast Seminar last week, Dr. Lawrence Yun talked about current housing market conditions and the impact they are having locally and nationally.
"As to market conditions, 2007 has been an extremely challenging year," he said. "All the data says conditions are better to buy a home today than in the past, but still people are holding back. A lot of this is due to the media putting a pessimistic spin on the market conditions."
The statement drew applause from the hundreds of Realtors attending the meeting from all over Southern Arizona.
While not in attendance, Machado, of Realty Executives of Southern Arizona in Vail, agreed with the statement.
"Everywhere you have a buyer that is ready to make a move, and then they listen to the national media and become hesitant," he said. "They start thinking the sky is falling and wonder what is going to happen to them."
Yun said interest rates are as low as 5 and 6 percent, and homeowners probably have it better than they did five to 10 years ago.
"We as Realtors now have to fight consumer confidence," he said. "In 2004, 05, 06 there was a huge boom in home sales. But now the market is back to a normal sales pace and the home prices are being adjusted to a more stable rate moving forward."
Machado said he would agree that while the market has slowed, it's back to being stable.
"The market last year was not strong, but before that, things were just moving in a very unrealistic market," he said. "We are now working in what a market should be."
As things continue to stabilize, Yun said Realtors are going to have to continue to work to regain consumer confidence and to show them that buying a home isn't the major risk portrayed by the media.
Yun acknowledged that 2007 was a rough year, but like most Realtors, he anticipates improvements in 2008 and especially in 2009.
As the market works toward improvement, keynote speaker Michael Tchong sent a clear message that using the worldwide Web is the wave of the future.
In his address, Tchong explained that Americans are busy and they want everything right now.
"We are all about speed, and this is not a new concept," he said. "More than half of American consumers say that a lack of time is a bigger problem than a lack of money."
Tchong said he was there to help Realtors grab the wave the future, which is social networking.
With more than 218 million MySpace accounts online, Tchong said using these tools is smart. He noted that a Realtor in China became a millionaire just by using the Internet.
"You have to realize how important social capital is to become a professional Realtor," he said. "There is a huge social dialogue out there that you used to find in the back of a newspaper."
The computer craze has become so outrageous, that Tchong said about 68 percent of Americans are spending more time with computers than with their spouses. These people are also referring to laptops computers at their "Lappy," treating it more like a pet than a machine, he said.
Machado agreed that the Internet is definitely transforming the real estate business, and after 17 years in the profession, it is helping him more than ever.
"The Internet has made my business more functional," he said. "The buyers feel more comfortable coming to me, because they can get their questions answered online. This especially helps some of my buyers coming from out of state."
Machado said the Internet traffic on his Web site continues to increase.
"The traffic has been extremely good," he said. "They are able to get online look at all the properties, focus on the areas they want, and the kinds of properties they are interested in."
Machado said while the national housing market continues to show a decline, he feels that with the internet, and a better outlook in 2008, things will improve. Besides, he noted, Tucson's market will never be behind the rest of the nation.
"We have great weather and a lot of retirees want to come here," he said. "I believe our market here in Tucson will continue to hold stronger than the rest of the nation because this is a great location."
Yun said the Arizona housing market saw a 30 percent increase during the boom prior to 2007. However, now that the boom is over, it doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the Arizona market, it just means things are getting back to normal.
Vail Sun
Agreeing with the senior vice president of the National Association of Realtors, local Realtor Joe Machado said the pessimistic portrayal of the housing market by the national media is creating an atmosphere of reluctant buyers.
During the Tucson Association of Realtors 2008 Forecast Seminar last week, Dr. Lawrence Yun talked about current housing market conditions and the impact they are having locally and nationally.
"As to market conditions, 2007 has been an extremely challenging year," he said. "All the data says conditions are better to buy a home today than in the past, but still people are holding back. A lot of this is due to the media putting a pessimistic spin on the market conditions."
The statement drew applause from the hundreds of Realtors attending the meeting from all over Southern Arizona.
While not in attendance, Machado, of Realty Executives of Southern Arizona in Vail, agreed with the statement.
"Everywhere you have a buyer that is ready to make a move, and then they listen to the national media and become hesitant," he said. "They start thinking the sky is falling and wonder what is going to happen to them."
Yun said interest rates are as low as 5 and 6 percent, and homeowners probably have it better than they did five to 10 years ago.
"We as Realtors now have to fight consumer confidence," he said. "In 2004, 05, 06 there was a huge boom in home sales. But now the market is back to a normal sales pace and the home prices are being adjusted to a more stable rate moving forward."
Machado said he would agree that while the market has slowed, it's back to being stable.
"The market last year was not strong, but before that, things were just moving in a very unrealistic market," he said. "We are now working in what a market should be."
As things continue to stabilize, Yun said Realtors are going to have to continue to work to regain consumer confidence and to show them that buying a home isn't the major risk portrayed by the media.
Yun acknowledged that 2007 was a rough year, but like most Realtors, he anticipates improvements in 2008 and especially in 2009.
As the market works toward improvement, keynote speaker Michael Tchong sent a clear message that using the worldwide Web is the wave of the future.
In his address, Tchong explained that Americans are busy and they want everything right now.
"We are all about speed, and this is not a new concept," he said. "More than half of American consumers say that a lack of time is a bigger problem than a lack of money."
Tchong said he was there to help Realtors grab the wave the future, which is social networking.
With more than 218 million MySpace accounts online, Tchong said using these tools is smart. He noted that a Realtor in China became a millionaire just by using the Internet.
"You have to realize how important social capital is to become a professional Realtor," he said. "There is a huge social dialogue out there that you used to find in the back of a newspaper."
The computer craze has become so outrageous, that Tchong said about 68 percent of Americans are spending more time with computers than with their spouses. These people are also referring to laptops computers at their "Lappy," treating it more like a pet than a machine, he said.
Machado agreed that the Internet is definitely transforming the real estate business, and after 17 years in the profession, it is helping him more than ever.
"The Internet has made my business more functional," he said. "The buyers feel more comfortable coming to me, because they can get their questions answered online. This especially helps some of my buyers coming from out of state."
Machado said the Internet traffic on his Web site continues to increase.
"The traffic has been extremely good," he said. "They are able to get online look at all the properties, focus on the areas they want, and the kinds of properties they are interested in."
Machado said while the national housing market continues to show a decline, he feels that with the internet, and a better outlook in 2008, things will improve. Besides, he noted, Tucson's market will never be behind the rest of the nation.
"We have great weather and a lot of retirees want to come here," he said. "I believe our market here in Tucson will continue to hold stronger than the rest of the nation because this is a great location."
Yun said the Arizona housing market saw a 30 percent increase during the boom prior to 2007. However, now that the boom is over, it doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the Arizona market, it just means things are getting back to normal.
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of vailsun.com.
htm wrote on Jan 23, 2008 3:42 PM:
" 2 things. these people, as always are absolutley delusional. They will never get it. Second, Yun says sales are back to a normal pace. if that's the case, what are they complaining about. The media didn't cause this. they simply are reporting the facts that the NAR would rather bury in a vault for good. DO NOT BUY A HOME FOR AT LEAST A YEAR! "
dave m. wrote on Jan 23, 2008 8:35 AM: