Can You Trust the OC Register with Their Opinion on Real Estate? Not Likely
Our industry detractors are at it again at the Orange County Register. We all know that drastically alarming news sells. Jon Lasner has recruited several people in his OC Register “journalism department” to back his housing bubble fear team. They have gone to great legnths to present themselves as honest, concerned columnists and bloggers. Very often they will attempt to approach something resembling an argument based in logic, however short they fall.
The formula is very simple: 1) We can’t afford a home, 2) Down-talk the Real Estate industry, and Realtors, until prices become affordable for us to buy. 3) Print newspaper with our “findings” 4) Repeat
The attempt is admirable, but step #2 in their logic doesn’t make sense. Not that I can’t take criticism as a Realtor, (it comes with the territory) but that no amount of criticism will make your dream home in Tustin affordable.
Jon Lasner finally grew tired of getting accused of being lax in the statistics department, so he did what any good journalist would do, he just invented his own statistics. He invented something called “The Big Orange Index” He admits it here, “The Big Orange Index, my compilation of three-dozen economic barometers, strongly suggests that the local business climate has stalled…”
So in that one statement he manages to admit how he made up some statistics, and how he managed to apply that to support that in his lack-logic conclusions.
You all remember the last time that I addressed his shoddy statistics (on my podcast Fear Mongers…) on the Real Estate market? Back then his major metric was the OC Median Home Price, when he thought that it was valid to compare a 10 Million Dollar beachfront mansion, with a $350,000 townhome, and factor in all of the fast food workers to assert that people who live here must be in the poorhouse. His analysis is only a matter of misdirection, but it’s worse than a Reno Magic act.
As Real Estate Professionals, it is incumbent upon us to call the media out on the carpet. This gentleman gets the story wrong every single day, and it is irresponsible on his part to attempt to spread fear into the public. Interest rates just went down again. If they notch much further down, we could have another buying frenzy on our hands. Will he be out of work when his predictions and invented statistics don’t stand the test of time?
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