"Home Forum" Letter to Elizabeth Rhodes

MrRational

I thought some of you may find this funny. For those who don't know, Elizabeth Rhodes runs a Home Forum over at the Seattle Times where readers can write in asking for her advice on various real estate matters. Below is the text of a letter she recently posted:

A local real-estate professional takes issue with the Oct. 6 story headlined: "Let the buyers rejoice; home sales, prices fall."


Well Elizabeth, you've done it again and I cannot refrain from a response. The media feed on any glimmer of bad news they can find and over the recent few weeks it has been refreshing to see some very positive articles regarding the Seattle housing market but you have undone all the good they may have provided.

The Seattle Times has focused on the doom and gloom of the national housing market and mortgage lending issues. We, in the Seattle area, have been insulated from most of this in our marketplace. Foreclosures are low, people are paying their mortgages and prices have continued to rise. This is due to the fact that there is a healthy job market in our area, limited land on which to build new homes and a healthy supply of buyers.

Buyers have been frightened away from the market with all the doom and gloom. Those who waited out the frenzy find they will pay more for the home than last year. There very few areas where this is not the case. Sales have slowed because buyers fear the banks are going out of business and prices of homes will fall dramatically and they will ultimately loose money. This is what you and others at the Times seem to promote with scary headlines.

We are in a natural cycle and home prices may dip slightly but there is too much going on in our area favorable to a healthy housing market for it to last long. How about selling the idea that owning a home is a good thing, it is shelter, a tax write off, a potential savings plan as a result of appreciation over time. Flipping homes is not a wise idea in this market. Most home owners do not plan to sell in the short run. If they do they should be advised to not buy today but the normal buyer should get in while they can because we are not building any more land so prices will not stay down for long!

Growing inventory is a result of an unnatural low number of buyers in the market due in part to fewer mortgages available to riskier borrowers and in part due to fear. Many buyers are out there, sitting on the fence because you and other Times writers do not encourage them to jump in while the going is good. Fourth Quarter is the best time to buy and now is the time to get a home, before the spring rush and escalating prices!

The home with the 100,000 dollar price reduction, it was overpriced for the features and benefits it provided. The Seller is not loosing money. The law of supply and demand caused many buyers to buy homes with less features just to get a home. Today, they can select from several that meet their wishes and will not settle for inferior properties that are overprice for what they offer.

Sellers thinking of moving up should consider selling now and reap the benefit of today's prices. They may net less but they should also be paying less. If they buy up, even minimal appreciation on the new home will be more than that same percentage of appreciation on their existing home so they come out ahead.

Source: Reader protests "gloom and doom" news

carlislematthew

Same old tired arguments.

-not making any more land
-jobs
-spring bounce
-now is a good time to buy
-tax writeoff
-prices may dip, but it's a long term thing, ya know?
-the media is scaring people

Over and over again we hear the same old tired crap.

Ubersalad

She's more than "well-known" on this forum, I think Tim has the hots for her.

perfectfire

There's a comment on that letter that is even better than the letter itself. Here's a snippet:

People need to stop being frightened and start buying houses again or it won't be good for ANYBODY.

BUY A HOME. IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.

We need this an a WWII era propoganda poster.

The_Tim

Ubersalad wrote:

She's more than "well-known" on this forum, I think Tim has the hots for her.

That is both hilarious and frightening.

rose-colored-coolaid

perfectfire wrote:

There's a comment on that letter that is even better than the letter itself. Here's a snippet:

People need to stop being frightened and start buying houses again or it won't be good for ANYBODY.

BUY A HOME. IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.

We need this an a WWII era propoganda poster.

I like it.


I want you to help [retail sales/educate children/pave roads/pad politicians' salaries/support terrorist creation]
by buying a home and [paying taxes/shopping at Home Depot/driving a long ways to work/bragging how smart you must be]

EconE

I love the use of exclamation points.

"prices will not stay down for long!"

"Fourth Quarter is the best time to buy and now is the time to get a home, before the spring rush and escalating prices!"


Maybe we should counter such nonsense with...

Fourth Quarter is the best time to secure that seasonal job at Pier One Imports!!!!

biliruben

LOL.

You are on a roll lately RCC.

wsucougz

Why does this sound to me like the same complaints often heard from a certain political group? - "one-sided media attack-dogs blah, blah blah." If anything, I thought the times had been holding back on printing negative data about the local market until the last couple of weeks when the drum got too loud, even for them.

rose-colored-coolaid

wsucougz wrote:

Why does this sound to me like the same complaints often heard from a certain political group? - "one-sided media attack-dogs blah, blah blah." If anything, I thought the times had been holding back on printing negative data about the local market until the last couple of weeks when the drum got too loud, even for them.

Are you referring to east coast bias? Because if you are, I agree completely (along with every Seattle sports fan)!

wsucougz

Exactly. I see little or no respect for Seattle's team...

The Gonzaga Bulldogs.