What Role does the Media Play in the Real Estate Downturn?

[flip_it_fast]

Many are putting the media to blame for real estate decline. They believe some reporting may be unfair, not painting the correct picture and therefore, effecting the real estate market. They say the messages of doom continually going across the television screen is detrimental to the state of real estate business and not always the truth.

Two former Bear Stearns managers were recently indicted and arrested in the first criminal prosecution stemming from the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market. If financial professionals are being held to such a high level of accountability, then should the media be held to similar levels of responsibility? Do sensational headlines and those scrolling messages you see going across the TV of doom, do those equate to similar deceitful practices?

by Peter L. Mosca

I watch the real estate news on television and sometimes the forecasts can make a person cringe. Truthful or not, I do not believe they are completely to blame for the fall of the market. You do not only see the bad news on television. It is everywhere you look, everywhere around you. In your own back yards. Foreclosures and so on are everywhere.

What Role does the Media Play in the Real Estate Downturn?

[missmanors]

I don't know how the media could be blamed for the housing market. It wasn't the media who loaned the money to those who could not afford to pay them back, it wasn't the media that applied for loans without sufficient collateral or jobs.

It also wasn't the media that made the prices of gasoline, food, and utilities skyrocket, making the economy go haywire, and leaving people with no choice but to keep their homes, or feed their families.

Anyone looking around their own neighborhood can see that the housing crisis is really a crisis. The situation is real, not something that was made up by the media for the purpose of ratings.

[flippinout]

I agree with MissManors, It was the lenders and the borrowers that have caused this problem and investigations into mortgage entities such as Countrywide has proven this to be true.

Plus, borrowers telling lenders that they have collateral that they dont have is a big part of the problem.

Also not understanding the contract that they signed is another aspect of it.