The Perception of the Bubble

Human behavior is a trip.

I just caught a recent Poll that found that 72% of the people found the economy to be unfavorable.

This is remarkable considering that home ownership is higher than ever and unemployment is lower than ever.

Some other conflicting facts:

• Minority home ownership is at record levels
• Consumer confidence highest ever
• Higher employment than 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s
• Economy has expanded 17 straight quarters
• Home ownership highest ever

Yet, 72% of Americans think the economy sucks.

However, the same poll found that 46% of the respondents thought their own finances were in excellent shape.

Do you not find this bizarre?

More curious news:

More than 70% of U.S. consumers believe a national housing bubble will burst and home prices will collapse within the next year, although 56% believe it's unlikely to happen in the area where they live, according a new survey.

Never mind that the Fed looks to not be raising interest rates much further. Never mind that NAR is predicting good times ahead. Albeit not so robust. Good times non the less.

The fact is,  bad news sells. And it is in fact the point of this article. The power of the media is incredible. The reality is the Bush Administration has watched over the largest economic expansion ever.

This is not meant to spark a political debate, although I love politics.

If you are in real estate, and have benefitted form the current market, it was under the current Administration. Like them or not.

Now obviously we can thank the past Fed Chairman Greenspan -the so called shadow President.

However, it is usually The President that gets the credit for the economy.

The problem with this Administration is that somehow they have found the idea of selling repugnant. They have sucked at beating their chests at the job they have done.

Compare that to Clinton that beat his chest when his economy was robust and when the floor fell out after the dot bomb. They continued to sell how good everything was.

Thus, perception created by media is the reality. Today, people believe things suck. Even though they are doing great! It is extremely important fora conservative administration to sell even more than a left wing administration like Clinton's. Because the popular media does tend to throw softer at the Left point of view.

My question to you is that with all the talk of bubbles and so forth, what are you doing to popularize the idea of buying your assett, real estate?  Like it or not, the Media is interested in proving this economy as bad. And, they just love bad news.

They would rather show a family losing their gorgeous home, than illustrating the glory of when they bought their gorgeous home. Bad news sells!

Will you let the same people that said the bubble would burst 5 years ago to convince people your prospects, that somehow today they will finally be right? Or will you take it upon yourself to create perceptions?

You know, you have that ability with a real estate blog.