So I am driving to my son's football practice last night. I flip the radio dial to KFI for some talk radio in the form of John and Ken.
I perfectly time into their 2 minute news alerts with Terry Rae Elmer.
What she said so amazed me such that I pulled out my digital recorder to repeat it back so that I got it right.
She said, "It looks like the housing market is showing signs of slowing down".
Now. that statement in and of itself is typical and not earthshattering.
They went to a commercial. Then Elmer comes back with, "It looks like the housing market is slowing down. As last weeks home loan applications were almost exactly what they were the previous week. And the previous week broke all loan application volume records."
Now that is a paraphrase and how I heard it. Admittingly, I was in drive time traffic on the 405 (one of our nations busiest freeways), and I usually don't focus intently on these 2 minute news blurbs.
However, if I am even somewhat close to the real broadcast, then the question that begs to be asked is, "If last week matched the best loan applications ever, then how is the real estate market slowing down?" The other curious issue is that I seriously doubt that the week before was a record. I will have to check.
But the point is really that the headline stated that market is slowing down.
What bothers me is that the media can easily create a perception that often times becomes reality.
Why would the media seek to manipulate like this? Only bad news sells. And it is an easy hook when the bad news is about everyone's favorite subject. Their home.
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