2010-09-01ritholtz.com

The sort of nonsense the Realtor’s group peddles helps explain why sellers have incorrectly believed a recovery was imminent, even as housing went through a historic collapse. It is why home owners incorrectly still expect their homes to go appreciate by 10% a year.

These false beliefs have real world consequences. They create ridiculous expectations among sellers, who selectively grab onto any positive news they can. They choose the temporary blissful ignorance of illusion — that damned blue pill — versus embracing the painful truth of reality (i.e., the red pill).

I would go further: the continual lying is going to eventually discredit real estate in the eyes of a scarred generation, leading to overall less business for real estate agents (and other transactional beneficiaries) than if they had just been more honest to start with.



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