I have a small beef with the national real estate news media. I was reading an article from CoStar Group about the 2008 real estate outlook. I like Costar because they’re pretty straightforward and reliable.

SmallburgerThe article, entitled “Housing Outlook Dims for 2008“, reminded me of the same doom and gloom headlines from other national news outlets.

WHY TEXANS SHOULD HAVE A BEEF WITH THE NATIONAL MEDIA

They’re biased. Reporters chatter about housing “booms” and “busts”, but not stability because middle ground is boring. California, Arizona, and Florida sellers are suffering after real estate speculators rushed to those markets and overpaid. Houston and other areas of Texas aren’t suffering the way the headlines would lead you to believe.

They don’t know our market. I reported yesterday that the Houston market was “ho-hum” because it’s slightly declined, but hasn’t gone bust. Was this sensational news? No, but it was the truth. Texas didn’t severely appreciate so we were largely ignored during your news hayday of 2003-2005. Smart investors heard of our relative stability and are now flocking to us.

They don’t report the full story. My friend from Berne, Switerzland said foreign consumers are pulling their funds out of America because our media’s reports of the housing markets crashing “everywhere”. Consumers in the U.S and other countries still do not understand why the subprime market failed and how banks will come back even stronger with better practices established. They also don’t hear about many local markets (like Austin) that are doing well.

HOW TO SURVIVE REAL ESTATE IN ANY MARKET

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