If it bleeds, then it leads

"If it bleeds, then it leads" - you don't need to be a genius to understand what this overused hyperbole connotes. This statement also refers to the blunders of the national real estate market. According to some very respected media sources, prices for: condos, single-family homes, and townhomes are dropping...fast! Wow, what a shock! I read an article earlier today from CNN Money entitled: Home prices post record decline (http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/26/real_estate/Case_Shiller_down/index.htm?...) and you can guess what the article is about: over supply of inventory, Florida condos, for example, not being able to sell...and the article doesn't let up.

The last sentence of the of article made me chuckle though where it stated the only places to actually show positive price growth. Way to uplift your online readership.

You know what's interesting, the way that authors or experts can sum up the entire US real estate market and label it "poor" or "slow" or "dismal". What people need to realize is that real estate markets differ from city to city, zip code to zip code and even neighborhood to neighborhood. You can be in a depressed market on one side of the street and then walk across the street to a booming neighborhood. To aggregate all the data and sum up how the market is, is not really a fair assessment. Yes, prices are falling in more areas where they are rising but, come on.

Why aren't journalists focousing on the growth side of real estate? Oh yeah, it's not bleeding. It's unfortunate that people will undoubtably read an article like this one on CNN Money and regurgitate the highlights at a dinner party as to come off like an real estate industry expert. Next they might simply read Gordon Wood and come up with a revolutionary idea about American History...but I digress.

My point is this...if you want to write an article about the real estate market, please don't lump the whole US into one article. San Diego is completely different than New York City which is different than Dallas. Dallas condos and Austin condos may differ completely. So, if you read an article like the one I am talking about, please don't take it at face value. Dig deeper.