Except of course that some people will actually believe it. Not many, but certainly some.
From the Washington Realtors’ “Get The Facts Straight” ad campaign. I’m sure I will post more on these over the weekend, they’re just too hilarious to ignore. Thanks to Doug for pointing out the link to these.
The Tim » Nov 16, 2007 at 12:21 am
“A ton of new jobs”
That’s a technical term, for spreading facts.
squidier » Nov 16, 2007 at 12:25 am
The background music, especially, makes really me trust this message. Oh, and the guy’s soothing voice.
A sunny day and puppies in the yard, yay!
Markus » Nov 16, 2007 at 12:46 am
The “ton of new jobs” phrase was a total joke. However, I note that 2 of the 7 homes for sale in my subdivision were sold in the past day or two. I was shocked to see the sold signs posted today while driving home from work. Let’s see if they actually close…
Lander » Nov 16, 2007 at 1:27 am
Strong economy…job growth…low unemployment… None of those things stopped Sacramento home prices from sinking 20-30% in two years. Oh, and the Sacramento housing market was the “envy of the nation”…in 2005.
Shawn » Nov 16, 2007 at 1:40 am
Just a note that the word “ton” is equal to “a lot.” So, that would translate to “a lot of new jobs.” (see dictionary.com)
Beware of the grammar curse! Whenever one corrects another’s grammar in cyber space that correction will itself contain a grammatical error or misspelling, etc. :)
Faster » Nov 16, 2007 at 1:55 am
ahhh…”a lot”… well, then that makes all the difference.
Scotsman » Nov 16, 2007 at 4:01 am
Man, I want some of whatever he’s having. Heck, make mine a double- I really want to see the pink ponies this time…
AndyMiami » Nov 16, 2007 at 7:17 am
From HousePanic which shows how different Seattle is:
Here’s the United States Housing Crash in all its ugliness – Fortune magazine does the P/E on the housing bubble
Nice to see the MSM reporting on the price to rent ratio for housing – just a few years too late to save people from the worst financial mistake of their lives, and just a few years later than the bubble blogs, but at least the truth is now finding a way out.
Here’s how bad home prices will crash city by city, based on historic rent yields.
What a shocker – Florida, California, Arizona, Balt/DC – all the usual suspects, all the cities that got infested by REIC, fraudsters, flippers and greed.
Look out below. And rent.
Column headers are city, current price to rent ratio, 15 year average, and expected 5-year price decline (in today’s dollars not the devalued ones coming up)
Miami 27.2 16.0 -41.1
Los Angeles 26.7 16.0 -40.3
Baltimore 20.7 12.6 -39.1
Washington DC 26.0 15.9 -38.9
Seattle 38.0 23.3 -38.7
East Bay CA 50.9 31.6 -38.1
Orlando 23.8 14.9 -37.2
Long Island 24.5 15.7 -36.1
Ft Lauderdale 24.5 15.7 -35.9
San Jose 42.5 27.2 -35.9
Palm Beach Fla 27.1 17.6 -35.1
Phoenix 21.5 14.0 -34.6
New York 17.8 11.7 -34.6
Portland, Ore. 31.7 20.8 -34.3
San Diego 34.0 22.4 -34.2
Norfolk 26.8 17.9 -33.3
Philadelphia 18.6 12.5 -33.2
Orange County 36.2 24.3 -33.1
Salt Lake City 24.1 16.3 -32.7
Las Vegas 27.9 18.9 -32.3
Richmond 24.9 16.8 -32.3
Sacramento 28.7 19.4 -32.2
Tampa 21.4 14.5 -32.2
InlandEmpire CA 27.5 18.8 -31.6
Charlotte 26.2 18.2 -30.5
North/Cen NJ 20.6 14.4 -30.2
Jacksonville 20.1 14.3 -28.8
San Francisco 38.2 27.4 -28.3
Raleigh 26.8 19.4 -27.7
Honolulu 35.2 25.5 -27.4
NATIONAL AVG 22.8 16.9 -25.9
Milwaukee 24.2 18.1 -25.0
Atlanta 19.5 14.8 -24.0
Nashville 26.8 20.5 -23.8
San Antonio 17.7 13.5 -23.6
Boston 23.2 18.0 -22.4
Denver 24.4 19.1 -21.7
Hartford 18.7 14.9 -20.0
Minneapolis 19.3 15.5 -19.8
Chicago 22.7 18.3 -19.7
Oklahoma City 15.5 12.7 -17.9
Stamford, CT 26.4 22.0 -16.6
Memphis 21.5 18.1 -15.9
St. Louis 16.6 14.0 -15.7
Austin 19.1 16.3 -14.5
Houston 16.5 14.3 -13.4
Kansas City 16.8 14.8 -11.5
Pittsburgh 11.9 10.6 -10.9
Columbus 18.9 16.9 -10.4
Dallas/FortW 17.8 16.1 -9.4
New Orleans 16.1 14.8 -8.1
Cincinnati 16.3 15.1 -6.9
Indianapolis 15.6 14.9 -5.0
Detroit 10.3 10.9 5.8
Cleveland 13.2 14.3 8.5
Demersus » Nov 16, 2007 at 7:32 am
Not all real estate agents are Realtors, but all Realtors are indeed real estate agents. But hey, ask them they’d rather have the commision or not and I doubt it makes a difference.
george » Nov 16, 2007 at 7:57 am
Ha! Realtors need to run that ad for the state’s top economist who says the housing market here is in trouble:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/339862_revenue16.html
The Tim » Nov 16, 2007 at 7:59 am
Hey, now you’re stealing my jokes :^)
MJ » Nov 16, 2007 at 8:15 am
The Realtors might just get away with the hype down in Vancouver, WA. Why? Because the Vancouver MSM have yet to publish the latest data from the NWMLS. The data for October was release a couple of weeks ago and shows sales down. What is more shocking for the “we are special” crowd is that the median price was down.
Interestingly, the Vancouver newspaper published an article about the falling prices in Seattle. Hmm, are the trying to hide the data from the locals looking to buy or sell in their market. Clearly, they are not interested in keeping the public informed on a very important issue.
And to think, I was interested in moving down there.
Grvetti » Nov 16, 2007 at 8:42 am
Hahahaha!!! Is that for real? Wholly Hell, that was hilarious! Well it looks like we’re in the full blown denial phase of our housing boom/bust
1 ton (of new jobs) = 2000 lbs
average weight of the average individual worker… er… 160 lbs???
Therefore 2000 lbs/160 lbs = 12.5 new workers!!! weehooo!!!
With such technical minds at work at the WAR, how can you not trust them!!!
Seattle Bubble » Blog Archive » Housing Slump Drags Down State Revenue » Nov 16, 2007 at 8:51 am
[...] to Absolutely Hilarious!: Hahahaha!!! Is that for real? Wholly Hell, that was hilarious! Well it looks [...]
AndySeattle » Nov 16, 2007 at 9:05 am
Don’t you see now? We REALLY are different! I knew it, my mom knew it… Apple knew it! Different is the new black! Different cures cancer. Different unclogged my sink last night! Thanks Different! And Thank YOU Realtors!
the_other_tim_from_lkenmore » Nov 16, 2007 at 9:09 am
I love how on the website, on “get the facts” they have a link to an editorial of all things, which of course, is written by the CEO of the Washington State Realtors.
Maybe “fact’ is too complicated of a term for these guys. For those still confused, here is what “the google” has to say.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=define%3A+fact
1. When an observation is confirmed repeatedly and by many independent and competent observers, it can become a fact.
2. A statement that is objectively true and can be
verified.
3.An indisputable truth.
deejayoh » Nov 16, 2007 at 10:21 am
more like “truthiness” than fact, me thinks. And the truthiness is, we’re creating tons of real estate and construction jobs. and those keep our real estate market strong! that’s how it works. kind of like a perpetual motion machine.
Normandy » Nov 16, 2007 at 10:33 am
Could any real estate agent really back this ad? I mean, its ridiculous!
It would make them look like complete idiots to back this as a quality response to the ongoing situation. Any decent (I think there are some out there) real estate agent with an IQ to their name has got to be pretty embarrassed.
redmondjp » Nov 16, 2007 at 10:48 am
A-ha! Yes, this is the very ad that they have been playing on the AM news stations of late. I LOL every time I hear it.
I wonder if the person who two years ago bought the $1M house down the street from me that just was foreclosed on would agree that buying a house now is the smartest thing that you can do, hmmm . . . Oh, and they tried to sell it for $1.1M for a few months this spring with no takers.
jon » Nov 16, 2007 at 10:52 am
“However, I note that 2 of the 7 homes for sale in my subdivision were sold in the past day or two. ”
The number of houses sold shown on http://www.estately.com/ has also been much higher the last two days than it has been in the past.
Washington, A SPECIAL PLace... » Nov 16, 2007 at 12:34 pm
“Get the facts, call a Realtor”
“Bend over, take it in the Seat”
“O.K. Honey, I’ll drive”
Good rythm, huh?
ken » Nov 16, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Seems fishy, that they can claim it will be the best investment you’ll ever make.
marinite » Nov 16, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Wow! I had a baby throw-up.
But seriously, that ad was really talking about California. How do I know? Because they say exactly the same thing here. We’re the special ones, not you.
jeff » Nov 16, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Gee it is so great they have to tell us about it, much like the “puff” piece in the PI on the “strong” condo market. All of the industry seem to want to tell us that things are ggggreat!!! no matter what we may see, in spite of a very low dollar and high oil prices.
Rich » Nov 16, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Yahoo seems to agree:
http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/most_undervalued_real_estate_markets.html
What a joke!
christiangustafson » Nov 17, 2007 at 5:24 pm
What happens to an investment adviser who makes promises like this on a stock?
If there are any Google employees reading this, could you please get on with the important business of disintermediating RE and driving REALTOR®s into extinction?
They will not be missed. The Meatmen, they are missed. But not REALTOR®s.
Ira Sacharoff » Nov 17, 2007 at 11:16 pm
To clarify what was stated earlier, if a real estate agent affiliates with a broker who is a member of the Washington State Realtors, he/she must become a realtor and pay a lot of money. If an agent works for a brokerage that is not a Realtor affiliated brokerage, he/she cannot join the Realtor group..The Realtor group has an additional ethics pledge required of their agents, but if the head of the whole group and their full page ad indicates anything, it’s that there are plenty of real estate agents and realtors both to mistrust.