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Isn't it amazing how the NAR continues to spread crapola numbers every month hoping the public will gobble them up and perceive a more positive market than is actual reality? Every month, every time, they must LOWER and reduce their forecasts to more closely resemble reality. What a joke! The pending home sales numbers the NAR offer are able to be successfully "massaged" by their "economists" (ha). Pending sales are based on a sampling of 20% (1 in 5)of the previous months sales. What the NAR reports as actual closings for the previous month are based on a sampling of 50% of actual closings. Anybody with an inkling of know how can massage a small select sampling of data to portray the most positive results. The spinmeisters at the NAR rival Tokyo Rose and Karl Rove when it comes to propagandizing data and facts. I call it "Realtor Rumpelstilksen Economics". What's amazing is things have gotten SO bad that even the NAR's hype, fluff and puff cannot disguise the severity of this real estate downturn and recession. Realtor members should begin to analyze the role this Association played in creating the national artificial real estate market; their leading role in disseminating "data and analysis" to continue the inflated, artificial activity; and "milk the golden cow" long past its time. I think that this association's "leadership" should be investigated for unethical, immoral, and potentially illegal practices. In my opinion, the shennanigans and alleged illegal activities performed by real estate brokers and salepersons since 2002 rivals and overshadows the lenders granting of mortgages to unqualified buyers. In many cases, the real estate broker or salesperson "steered" clients to these mortgage brokers for hidden referral fees, and knew buyers would wind up in foreclosure if prices dropped. These are two of the main factors that created the sur-real estate boom and bust now throttling our economy, and for that matter, the global economics. Now would be a good time for some enterprising entrepreneurs to start up a competitive real estate broker and salesperson association where ethics, morality, experience, and professionalism are mandatory requirements verified prior to inclusion. The NAR is a dinosaur, has become a dis-service to members and the public, and should become extinct. Jack McCabe CEO McCabe Research & Consulting 2422 Lob Lolly Lane Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442
Well, gag me with a spoon. After reading Ms. Ross's latest attack piece, the NAR's self professed attack dog has been at the realtor kool aid trough again. Ms. Ross's "analysis" (ha) deserves to be on book shelves in between the illustrious writings of Tokyo Rose and Aesop's Fables. If your in a WW II submarine, or being tucked in for beddy-bye, it may have some relevance. In this ill begotten piece, Ms. Ross attempts to attack RealtyTrac's foreclosure data for it's duplicate filings distortion of actual numbers. As any true real estate professional knows, RealtyTrac's data is best utilized for determining the current pipeline of lis pendens filings, and ultimately discern the pipeline of potential future foreclosure sales. Perhaps Ms. Ross should move from her narrow minded attack process and consider data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, which reveals foreclosure SALES (as in actual sales) are at the highest level since the Association started its' database in 1979. Or DataQuick's foreclosure sales data. Or Foreclosuredaily.com. ALL data from monitors of foreclosure activity show foreclosures up more than 300% annually. My home state of Florida has many markets that have seen appraisal and market value drops in the 20-30% range IN THE LAST YEAR ALONE. Foreclosure sales and their resultant price pressures are a major cause. In California, 1/3 of sales during the first quarter of 2008 WERE FORECLOSURE SALES!!! up from 3% last year. THAT'S TEN TIMES THE AMOUNT IN FIRST QUARTER 2007. In some MSA's 2/3 of sales were from foreclosures. Yet, "clever" Ms. Ross wants to attack one company's information to say the national media is wrong and hell bent on destroying the real estate market. Funny, when prices were artificially hyped to unaffordable levels by realtors professing people would always make money on real estate, I don't recall Ms. Ross ever writing a story that the media was playing a part in inflating market demand that would ultimately evolve into a bust. Shallow people don't usually complain until their wallets (or in this case, purse) is affected. I'm sure Ms. Ross was busy on the phone recruiting speculators and flippers! Ms. Ross' "expertise" deserves the same degree of respect awarded a used car or health insurance salesperson. Maybe. Definitely worth a chuckle. Why Inman News keeps printing her fodder is beyond me, but I'm sure it makes the NAR (the chief culprit of the nationally perceived disintegration of realtors reputations) happy. Now, for a good bed time story spun by David Lereah or Lawrence Yun.... Jack McCabe CEO McCabe Research & Consulting 2422 Lob Lolly Lane Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442