Does Blogging Make Things Worse?

Can blogging on bankruptcy cause more bankruptcy? Maybe not, but can blogging on the effects of the market downturn push the market down further?

This latter question came up in a comment on my most recent price-reduction blog.

A Realtor, Maggie, wrote:

You know, I am a Real Estate Agent in the SF Bay Area and am all for my clients and friends and family getting a deal on Real Estate but there’s something really strange about all of this stuff posted all over RedFin. The facts are the facts of the Real Estate market, yes…BUT – ALL of the focus on price reductions, cash back to buyers, prices coming down, etc…You people are just perpetuating the market’s stall in a few areas and dont realize that if you’re a buyer, you’re just hurting the chances of a great return on your investment once you’re a homeowner…

Maggie’s point is an interesting one, which is why I am using it now to elicit conversation. Is writing about the downturn and its symptoms a way of effectively driving down our own housing investments?

To be fair to Redfin, we don’t focus only on negative things. We write about solar energy, walkable neighborhoods, food, festivals, mansions, schools, ways to sell a home more intelligently, ways to buy more intelligently, parking, transportation, current events, politics… the list is pretty long. We also, however, spend a lot of time watching the market. This makes sense, doesn’t it? Would “all rosy, everything is perfect, buy now, buy now” propaganda be believable? Would we garner any credibility for ourselves as real estate bloggers– or for Redfin as an agency– by doing so?

And really, even negative blogs have positive spins. For instance, Allison Ching’s  recent blog showcases how reduced prices in San Leandro make those homes more accessible to first-time buyer families. Similarly, Tracey Taylor’s latest advises a London transplant with $500K to spend to seek housing in the East Bay instead of San Francisco, as falling prices in the former make it more feasible to buy something comparable to the city she will leave behind. Neither is really negative- more like honest.

Also honest are blogs like this one, “Housing Panic,” in which readers are advised to pull sums over $100K out of Countrywide. Sure, this could be seen as panic-inducing, but only an ostrich, with a head fully submerged in the sand, would not be panicked if he had money not insured by the FDIC sunk in a failing bank.

Clealry, Redfin is not the only real estate blog studying both negative and positive aspects of the market. San Francisco Schtuff has a regular reduction feature, such as this latest one. And Schtuff is associated with a Real Estate agency (Home), so that means agents there do not see a problem in presenting facts, both pleasant and less so. You can find blogs on similarly “negative” issues on every reputable, unbiased, real estate blog in the city.

Maybe what we bloggers seek to accomplish is edification. We want to be informed sellers and buyers, and hope to inform and learn from our readers by presenting facts and data. Sometimes this means exploring unhappy topics, but other times, like with Janis Mara’s “the bottom is near” blog, the topics are optimistic indeed. In all cases, these blogs and the amazingly knowledgable comments they induce, offer education. And they’re all based on honest informatiom.

But is honesty not the best policy?

—

Picture credit: Pinella’s Peach