Sitting down this morning getting my Fox News fix, I noticed a release by the NAR that has me re-thinking a position I have taken…

Here is the link to the NAR news release.  To summarize, the position the NAR takes is that housing will start to pick up in 2008.  Existing home sales will rebound, although new homes will lag for another year.

Well, I’ve been saying this for a few months (go back and look at my Gwinnett Market Reports if you don’t believe me).   And so, when the NAR says the same think, I need to re-assess my position.

Why, you ask?

Because the NAR started calling the bottom of the market and the rebound before the decline was in full swing.  And that really ticks me off.  I don’t have a problem with putting a good spin on things.  We all do it, and sometimes we just need to in order to remind people about the other side of the coin.  Whether it is a Buyer’s Market or a Seller’s Market, it is a crappy market for half of the people in a transaction…

But, it’s one thing to put your best foot forward, and quite another to say that everything is always perfect.  I run numbers for my market… and I make predictions based on those numbers.  When I am wrong, I acknowledge it, and when the news just sucks, I say it.  I don’t try to speak out of both sides of my mouth just to make sure that I’m covered.

Right now, if the NAR announced that skies were blue, I’d run outside to check.

Keep in mind that I am not only a member of my association in order to have access to the MLS (we don’t have to be), but rather, I am currently active in the association (until tomorrow’s meeting, I am the chairman of the RPAC committee).  No, I’m not being deposed… my tenure is coming to a scheduled end.

So, what do we do about it?

Of the 33.548 real estate agents on A/R… as of a moment ago… I’d bet that the vast majority are members of the NAR.  I know that the majority are ticked at the NAR over one thing or another.  But, I would bet there are about 50 that are actually active in their local association.  I bet half don’t even know who is President of their local association, much less the state association.

So, get involved.  Make your voice heard [I have NO idea this post was going this way].

And, when the NAR issues these reports, grab some salt, and run your own numbers.