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Are Media Reports Negatively Influencing Real Estate?
In the world of news, entertainment, and whatever else is making headlines these days, the media is the filter in which everything is absorbed and then recycled into the information that is sent to consumers for consumption. Otherwise known as information overload. Since repetition is the key to learning, we remember what is repeated over and over.
The Bullseye Is On Real Estate
Real Estate has been a very easy target, due to it being national in scope and affecting so many people and industries. Most all of the news being reported today about real estate is negative. It has been a cornucopia of events starting with sub-prime, fewer number of home sales, foreclosures, lack of liquidity in the housing market, harder to obtain financing.
Consumers have been inundated with bad news regarding the real estate market. Despite the best efforts of the NAR and their Good Time to Buy campaign home sales remain very sluggish. In today’s LA Times, syndicated columnist Lew Sichelman provides a list of reasons why now is an excellent time to be a home buyer. Despite this rationale and justification, home buyers are still sitting on the sidelines.
Consumers Are Media Directed
We as consumers tend to believe what we see or hear in the media. There is a certain amount of credibility associated with it. Maybe we don’t have the time or resources to adequately research what is presented. I have seen two different news accounts on the same issue which leave you bewildered and recognizing that one account did not adequately present the whole story.
Does presenting the negative aspect of an issue make for better reading? Evidently so. The heard mentality seems to support this premise. Very few of us can adopt a contrarian philosophy, even though this can often times create the biggest opportunities. When everyone else is selling, you’re buying.
Spin It To Win It
As they say, there are two sides to every story. We are all pretty much familiar with the one side we have been reading about for the last 12 months. However what if these were the new headlines?
- Foreclosures Create Fantastic Buying Opportunities
- Homes are Becoming Affordable Again
- More Homes on the Market, More Choices for Consumers
- Sellers Say “Show Me An Offer”
- Seller Financing, No Reasonable Offer Refused
- Home Sellers Now Agreeing to Buyers Requests
- Low Rates, Lower Home Prices, More Home For the Money
In sales 101 you are always taught to take a negative and turn it into a positive. If the headlines were reported in this manner, wouldn’t it change people’s perception?
And then again, isn’t perception reality?
