Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

I believe that the more information consumers have, the better informed they are about their choices, the happier they are and that ultimately makes my job more rewarding. In my experience Bubble Bloggers, as a rule, have an axe to grind. And they have at least three things in common:

1.) They Hate Realtors
2.) They Rent rather than Own.
3.) The ignore facts that disprove their theories.

But hey - people - could say they same types of things about people in the Real Estate Industry. It's all about your own point of view.

For example, a Bubble Blogger will say the current slowdown in the market is indicative of a new trend, one in which values will start to fall.

But when you look at the facts - that over the entire history of property ownership in the United States values have ONLY gone up, over time, they simply ignore it. They point to a downturn on the Japanese Real Estate Market that lasted 14 years and say : "it will happen here."

Well, saying it won't make it so.

I recently read an EXCELLENT REPORT put out by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors Research Manager Jeff Allen and it had MANY INCREDIBLE STATISTICS that I will be happy to share with you over the next few weeks.

Here's a taste, for now, of one that blew my mind.

The average sale price in the Twin Cities through the years.

1980 $74,069
1990 $98,016
2000 $181,605
2005 $272,522
2006 $278,462

Wait a minute?!? Didn't the market collapse last year?

You see my point, now have a look at theirs, and please note who states fact over opinions...

Housing Bubble Blogs

From InmanWiki

There are many real estate and economics blogs that focus on research and discussion relating to housing bubbles (see United States housing bubble), also known as real estate bubbles. Some of the blogs are focused on local or regional housing markets while others have a national view.

These blogs typically offer opinion and analysis, and some of the blogs in this broad genre generate income through advertising, draw thousands of unique visitors each day, and can collect hundreds of comments on a single blog post.

A blog at the patrick.net site, "Reality Parser," is one of the most popular bubble-related real estate blogs. The site is maintained by Patrick Killelea, an engineer who works on programming for a large bank.

"The Housing Bubble: Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole," is another popular housing bubble-related blogs. The site's author, Ben Jones, residents in Northern Arizona.

Also among the list of housing bubble blogs:

"Baltimore Metro Area Housing Blog: A forum for the under-reported housing market conditions in the Baltimore Metro area." This blog focuses on the city of Baltimore and surrounding counties.

"Bubble Meter: A blog dedicated to the premise that there is a Housing Bubble in many locales in the USA." This blog, based in Maryland, has "a particular focus on the: When will it pop? Why will it pop? How will it pop? Where will it pop? Who is responsible for the bubble? Also the DC Metro Area bubble," according to a Web site description.

"DC Housing Bubble Blues." This site was created by Delilah Boyd.

"Housing Doom Housing Bubble Blog: The housing bubble has burst -- what happens next?" This blog was created by Debi Averett, aka "Twist," who is a research scientist with a master's degree in botany. Averett lives in the Phoenix metro area.

"Housing Panic: The Housing Bubble Blog with Attitude."

"The Jersey Shore Real Estate Bubble: A chronicle of the collapse of the Jersey Shore real estate market, and elsewhere."

"Professor Piggington's Econo-Almanac for the Landed Poor: Southern California Housing Bubble News and Analysis." Rich Toscano, a financial advisor in San Diego, created this blog in 2004.

"Southern California Real Estate Bubble Crash," created by an Orange County, Calif., resident who uses a "John Doe" alias.

"Southern Maryland Housing Bubble News: Dedicated to Tracking the Housing Bubble as it Pops."

"Seattle Bubble: News and discussion about the real estate and housing bubble, specifically as it pertains to the Seattle area." Timothy Ellis, an electrical engineer in Kenmore, Wash., created this blog in August 2005.

Inman News reported on housing bubble blogs in this report: "The rise of real estate bubble blogs: Bloggers offer research, counterpoint to 'industry speak,'" on Feb. 12, 2007.