According to a New York Times article published today, “Housing Prices Fall 14.4% in a Sign of Continuing Slump.”  If you just read that and put the paper down, you would think the world is falling apart!  Gas is up, housing is down, what do we do?  If you read my blog often, you may understand how I feel about the national media…I’m not a big fan and  I think they will write anything for a story. 

 If you read through the article, it goes on saying how difficult it is now to get a good mortgage.  However, the president of the National Association of Realtors President, Richard Gaylord says that mortgage restrictions have just been eased.

The NY Times doesn’t say exactly where it got the number of 14.4%.  It only says it came from “two reports.”  Well here is MY report, and I can tell you exactly where I got the numbers - The National Association of Realtors.  According to NAR’s “Sales Price of Existing Single-Family Homes“, for the U.S. overall, the non-seasonally adjusted numbers show a decrease of 8.1%.  While it is still a drop in existing home prices, it’s not quite the numbers the NYTimes is posting.  Here are the numbers broken down by region;  Northeast (-6.4%), Midwest (-5.6%), South (-5.9%), and out West (-12.7%).  Yes the prices are in a slump, but they will go back up, and they will probably go back down sometime in the future.  Markets fluctuate!

 My point is, anyone can doctor numbers all day long to make their point.  If you are in the market for buying or selling Real Estate, contact a local REALTOR.  All Real Estate markets are local, and you need to talk to someone whose job it is to study the market day-in and day-out, and who knows what they are talking about.  Who knows, your specific neighborhood may be hot right now!  You may have buyers who would do anything to live on your street.  Who do you think would know this better, a local REALTOR or the NYTimes?