If you’ve read Phoenix Real Estate Guy for any length of time, you will know I’m not exactly a “mainstream media” fanboy. The MSM’s tendency to write sensationalistic headlines and copy is annoying at best, and down right false and/or misleading at worst.
Yesterday was no different.
Two Associated Press writers, Derek Kravitz and Janna Herron, blew it in their article Home prices plummet in most big US cities (that particular link is to the Wall Street Journal copy of the AP article. You can also find it reprinted in the Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, BusinessWeek, The Miami Herald and approximately 38,400 news sources according to Google).
In an email to their subscribers today (and in a blog post) the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) communicated that they had been misquoted in the AP article. The quote as published by the AP was:
In Phoenix, about 70 percent of all homes with a mortgage were at risk of foreclosure in January, according to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.
According to ARMLS, the 70 percent number was gleaned from their February issue of STAT ”“ the monthly Phoenix metro area statistics report that ARMLS publishes. In the February STAT, ARMLS said:
Of the 6,541 total sales in January, 70.2% (4,591) were distressed.
A “distressed sale” is a sale that involves either a short sale (the seller, with lender approval, selling the home for less than what they owe) or a lender-owned property (a home that has been foreclosed on and has reverted back to the lender).
Granted, that is a depressing statistic, but it is a FAR cry from “about 70 percent of all (Phoenix area) homes with a mortgage were at risk of foreclosure in January.” The number of closed distressed sales in a given month has nothing to do with the number of homes across the metro area that are at risk of foreclosure.
The AP blew it.
Maybe you’ll see a half-column inch retraction/correction buried 12 pages deep three days from now in some of the 38,000+ publications that printed the story.
Or maybe not.
What we have here is living evidence of several things:
- Humans make mistakes. And reporters are human (at least as best we can tell).
- Real estate statistics can be easy to goof up and misinterpret. Particularly if you are not used to reading, analyzing and interpreting them on a regular basis. Sometimes our odd vernacular is confusing ”“ to everyone.
- You can’t believe everything you read in the mainstream media (or anywhere else for that matter).
Some folks tend to dismiss “blogs” and “citizen journalism” as being inaccurate, biased and not worth the phosphors on the monitor you are reading. Many people place blind faith and trust into publishers like the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Associated Press. Their writers and editors are after all, trained professionals.
Both of these groups of people ”“ the blog haters and the undying believers of the mainstream press ”“ are on the far ends of the spectrum. The bottom line is, you shouldn’t place blind trust in any news medium. Read with a critical eye, question everything, and look at multiple sources when something seems suspect.
Oh, and cancel that subscription to the Wall Street Journal. You can get new Phoenix Real Estate guy posts by email, for free”¦ 
The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...
That’s no small misquote. I’m surprised widespread looting hasn’t broken out yet in DC Ranch. LOL.
Bravo! Another tip would be to check back at the original quoted source, as misinterpreting core information is where most journalism mistakes are made.
Little news “reporting” or verifying today. AP is de facto “god.” AP will post retraction, leaving 38,000 other sources to appear accurate as reported. In fact, we’re almost to the point of sourcing Facebook – other day, I heard a guy say, “I heard it on Facebook, so it must be true.” He wasn’t kidding either….
Goof luck getting that retraction. I wonder if the authors really grasp the nature of the mistake.
ARMLS should issue a press release and make a big stink about this, not just write a blog post.
Local LA news-mag style TV shows already source Twitter and FaceBook on a daily basis. Sigh.
Yes Matt, I’m surprised at the lack of looting as well. It is true the Main Stream Media does seem to be making a lot of mistakes these days. Great article as usual Jay.
Interesting find. I’m sure most people wouldn’t even notice the goof if it wasn’t brought to attention from a real estate professional that can define the term “distressed”. Great post, Jay.
J Philip, we are taking additional steps beyond blogging.
Well said Jay. I kind-of ranted on this yesterday (and today) myself. I’m seeing more fiction than fact on national reporting.
This is just one example in a sea of examples on what a poor job main stream media does at “analyzing” the real estate market.
Fortunately I think the consumer is getting wise to this message of doom and gloom when they look around them and see the sky isn’t falling in. At least it’s that way in my market.
Bottom line: The best place to get accurate information about the real estate market is to visit with a real estate expert. One who actually knows the market and does the research. Glad the ARMLS is pursuing other avenues. This kind of stuff really gets me going!
I wish the consumer would be wise enough to not believe everything they hear…unfortunately I think it is the opposite. Most clients accept what they hear on the news as Gods spoken word. A lot of people think Realtors are simply trying to put a positive spin on the situation to make more sales.
You mean that the internets aren’t true? That can’t be right.
According to Nature.com, Zebras are very intelligent… that alone should settle the case on who is the real Zebra.
Not surprising that the media gets things wrong all the time. they pumped up the stock market quite a bit before its fall both before the dot bomb and recent wall street meltdown.
I wish the consumer would be wise enough to not believe everything they hear”¦unfortunately I think it is the opposite. Most clients accept what they hear on the news as Gods spoken word.
A lot of people think Realtors are simply trying to put a positive spin on the situation to make more sales.
I cannot tell you how many times the “Big Media” guys and local media have gotten it wrong. In fact, they just screwed up a major $14.5 million acquisition yesterday. As a result I have to work feverishly to educate my clients so they don’t have a full-on panic attack! It is very, very frustrating.
Good luck to you and ARMLS in getting this retraction and ADDITIONAL publicity of the REAL stats! It’s amazing how many consumers base their decisions upon news articles (in recent years especially), despite the increasing lack of credibility or the distance from the truth that they pen.
Was a news director in a Bangor ME broadcast station, and the rip and read AP and UPI reports were not the place to get local, statewide news. OK for national highlights. But the guy in the trenches full time, day in and out with perspective is where the news comes from completely, honestly. Without a spin or search for catchy, snarky sound bite. Making a comic book out of a serious subject in mainstream media is why bloggers are the folks to turn to for the local, main street truth live, direct from your zip code.
Yeah, those stats are a little bit off. When the media helps fuel the market downturn it is not good for business or the economy. Hopefully there was a retraction.
Unfortunatley it’s been viewed by so many readers who read it as “the gospel”. And in turn; they’ve told two friends, who’ve told two friends, who’ve told two more…… Can I interest you in some Wella shampoo? You know the routine.
Hopefully the masses will read all the myriad of other positive real estate articles, recognize the recent trends, and hear the rumbling of the market momentum. Up here in Prescott things are improving. 🙂
How are things in Phoenix?
……..So many news stations/reporters latch on to negative news, as that seems to be the “attention grabbers” they’ve had a field day with the dark cloud looming over the real estste market… Even in the pre-internet days bad news spread across the US like a wildfire….now with the internet it takes about 8 minutes 🙁