The Olympian comes in a day late to the party with what I would call a cautiously pessimistic report on December’s numbers:
Fewer homes sold in South Sound
Market has room to slide, real estate watchers sayAfter 11 months of red-hot South Sound home sales in 2005, sales dropped by double digits in December, raising the possibility that the market is beginning to cool.
In December, Thurston County home sales dipped 13 percent, with 293 homes sold compared with 337 homes sold in the same period a year ago, according to preliminary data released by the Olympic Multiple Listing Service.
I say “cautiously pessimistic” because later on they shovel out the usual “it’s slowing down but it’s still great” lines that everyone oh so loves to repeat:
But even if the market isn’t as hot as it has been, it still compares favorably to a time when mortgage interest rates hovered around 10 percent or higher, said Mick Piephoff, a real estate agent with John L. Scott Olympia.“Even if it slows down just a bit, it will still be a great market historically,” he said.
I just love how all the quotes in articles like these are from real estate agents. What else are they possibly going to say? “I’m about to soil my knickers because any minute now the whole market is going to run off a cliff.” Yeah, right.
(Rolf Boone, The Olympian, 01.07.2006)
Here’s the most telling example of Realtor “spin” that I’ve seen lately:
(CNBC interview w/ Coldwell Banker Pro,
loosely quoted):
” There’s a large inventory of houses to choose from >It’s a buyers market now. So get out and buy- now’s the time!” (and then came the best line in the whole interview) > Just DON’T EXPECT ANY APPRECIATION for the next YEAR or TWO!!!!”
Could I be wrong or did he really mean to say:
Expect the “value” of your property to DROP over the next couple years?