As the nation’s largest trade association, representing its 1.3 million members, the National Association of REALTORS® is the collective force influencing and shaping the real estate industry, and is the leading advocate of the right to own, use, and transfer real property.
The President's Report is provided by the National Association of REALTORS® to provide visitors/members with relevant messages from the association's president.
NAR disclaims responsibility for any of the content or opinions expressed in the President's Report, including, but not limited to content or opinions regarding any products or service mentioned on the President's Report .
NAR disclaims liability for any damages or losses, direct or indirect, that may result from use of or reliance on information contained in the President's Report.
The President's Report contains links to other Web sites operated by third parties. These links are provided as a convenience to access the information contained therein. NAR has not reviewed all of the information on other sites and disclaims any responsibility for the content of any other sites or the products or services that may be offered on or through those sites. Inclusion of a link to another site does not indicated any endorsement or approval of the site or its content.
NAR reserves the right to edit, remove, or deny access to individuals or content that it determines to be unacceptable, including, but not limited to, any abusive, profane, rude, defamatory, or anonymous comments.
Subscribe to this blog's Web feed
Comments
Kneale is right on. Certainly, as he points out, there are areas severely affected, and the depth of their extreme indulgence will play into how long it takes them to recover. However, with 98% of homeowners above the fray, it can hardly be a (national) crisis. There are two things about this market we need to understand, AND remember: First, Like all other recessions (Crises!) in my time - and I am ancient - it was federally legislated. The federal legislature insisted that home loans be made easier to obtain, and for more expensive homes than many borrowers would otherwise be eligible for, and, secondly, bad news is NEWS, and if it is talked up enough, it becomes larger than reality in many minds. Incidentally, legislators never take any heat for the misery they cause - they just make scapegoats out of "greedy businesses".
Elton Harwell
Posted by: Elton Harwell | August 22, 2008 10:31 PM
To dismiss this "crisis" by pointing out that "only 2%" of homeowners are in trouble completely misses the point. Potential sellers realize that they may not be able to sell, therefore they cannot buy, and the whole sale and resale chain bogs down. Everyone feels poorer, and this impacts the entire economy. Just look around at many neighborhoods and notice the large number of vacant and/or boarded up houses, and then consider whether or not there is a crisis. In my opinion the crisis is real.
T McCombs
Posted by: T McCombs | August 19, 2008 02:00 PM
The Dennis Kneale commentary misses too many obvious points to list. He does get right the concept that this is a necessary adjustment that needs to take place. We do not need a horrific bailout to try and prop up housing prices. We need to let prices drop and return to a non-bubble environment.
Dick - How in the world can you call this an "isolated" problem? This is an incredibly pervasive challenge driving a potential recession or worse!
D Rowe
Posted by: D Rowe | July 24, 2008 03:27 PM
Why should the government be allowed to spend $300 billion of money we paid in taxes for this bailout? They are rewarding stupid, greedy behavior, and charging ME AND YOU to do it. How can we stop this??
Posted by: Ted Paschke | July 3, 2008 12:59 PM