The Bad News Press vs. Expert Investment Information
It was our absolute pleasure to have Bernice Ross, PhD join us for our monthly Luxury Ambassador “In The Room” meeting to discuss her article “Chicken Little the Sky is Not Falling" and her research of the Shiller Index, which most news sources cite for accurate data regarding housing prices, foreclosure rates and sales statistics in the real estate market.
We believe that this information will be extremely valuable in assessing the current value of your investments as well as considerations for those who are either buying or selling real estate in today’s market.
Bernice Ross is, in our opinion, the most well respected journalist in our industry. A Master Certified Coach with over 30 years of real estate experience; Inman News called Bernice "America's top real estate coach”.
Is the bad news press we read regarding the real estate market…accurate?
Below is a re-cap of the information she shared with us during our meeting. To read more, see the recap, a spotlight on the facts, below and the articles posted separately on the UGE Luxury Press site. To access the podcast of the interview please click on the player below.
The Shiller Index:
- No data in 13 states, Incomplete data in 29 states
- Use a weighting formula for the luxury market
- Do not count condos (Luxury); do not count properties that trade 2x in a 6 month time period.
By not including complete data, it skews the results.
Bernice went on to emphasize that looking at these numbers is like looking at a national weather report. All real estate is local… and the local market information, the inventory statistics, will be much more correct than Schiller. The consumer must look to the real estate experts (Luxury Ambassadors) for the correct local statistical information rather than lumping the Nation together.…. with partial information. Please note that UGE will be including specific regional information for domestic and international markets each month in our Luxury Destination e-Magazine - August issue will feature Texas.
FACTS
Foreclosures:
- 1 in 118 houses in foreclosure in Las Vegas, 1 in 183 homes - California.
Nationally:
- 1st quarter of 2007, 1 foreclosure in every 198 homes
- May 2008, 1 in 483, down nationally 58%
- April and May- increase in number of people applying for loans
- People entering into real estate contract up 6.3%
- New home sales up 3.3% - first time since 2007
- Real Estate bottom was in December - main cause - difficulty in financing.
The meeting resulted in an “eye-opener’ experience for all of us. As mentioned in our June newsletter, the reports that we are receiving from our Luxury Ambassadors are telling a different story than what we read in the press. Offers to purchase are increasing and these offers are much more realistic. In other words, we are beginning to see that consumers are moving back towards the official “law” of real estate investing…location, location, location. Clearly the best properties will be the first to sell, and properties that are not in a good location will probably sit on the market for quite awhile, but the real estate industry reflects the fact that people must live in houses and can only be “paralyzed” for a certain amount of time.
When the “greed outweighs the fear”, and need to purchase is more important than trying to wait for total acceptance that the bottom is over, property begins to trade. It is a cycle. The absolute bottom is not celebrated by a fireworks display or a bell ringing. Information "under the radar" of the press, from the professionals on the ground should be strongly considered.
We hope that the research presented by Bernice Ross during our Luxury Ambassador meeting and her supporting articles will give our members a different perspective of the current real estate market. We also hope information made available through research and interviews with regional Luxury Ambassadors, will give perspective and guidance in your luxury real estate investing and assessment.
Ross’ books include Waging War on Real Estate’s Discounters, Real Estate Dough: Your Recipe for Real Estate Success (Summer, 2008), as well as Real Estate Dough, the Negotiation Game.
Her contact information:
Bernice Ross, Ph.D. MCC
Bernice@RealEstateCoach.com
(512) 263-2985
www.realestatecoach.com
Factual information is difficult to get out to the press. They continue to spread any neagtive reports and only negative comments allowed. I would like to blog about the informative relavent information you have provided to the real estate community.
Posted by: Waverly Thornton | July 18, 2008 at 08:14 AM