Thu, September 02, 2010
NAR’s Job: “To Permeate the World with Good News About Real Estate”
Over at “The Big Picture,” money manager and financial writer Barry Ritholtz is known for being a pretty blunt guy. But today he brought to light an article that pretty much destroys what little respect I had left for the National Association of Realtors.
One of the resources that the NAR provides to realtors online is a Field Guide to Surviving & Thriving in a Slowing Market. Among the items available there is a link to an 2007 article from the Realty Times. “Twelve Step Plan to Make You Feel Better About This Market,” Written by a 33-year veteran of the real estate industry, the piece includes the following matter-of-fact statement:
“The National Association of Realtors and your state association will always have published reports that sound better than what you are personally experiencing in the market. Please understand that they support us. They know that whatever they say will end up in public press. We do not need any more negative press! When you read reports that we have reached the bottom or that the market has actually gone up, take it with a grain of salt. Their job is to permeate the world with good news about real estate.”
In other words, positive statements about the real estate market emanating from the National Association of Realtors should be assumed to be hype rather than fact.
Although I’ve long suspected that this was true, I never expected to find such a public acknowledgement about the NAR’s pronouncements, much less via a link from their own site. I’ve gently downplayed the NAR’s objectivity in the past, but after reading this, I’m convinced that the association’s statements on the strength of the housing market should be completely ignored.