The Real Estate Wonk: It's a great time to buy, say the folks who are selling - Baltimore homes, apartments, real estate: Buying, selling, renting and housing news from reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins

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November 8, 2007

It's a great time to buy, say the folks who are selling

At its forecasting conference today, the Home Builders Association of Maryland handed out some of the National Association of Home Builders' ads intended to counteract the negative news that we pesky journalists keep reporting on. I thought you all would enjoy them, whether you think it's a great time to buy or not.

Here's another ...

On a related note, one of the conference attendees asked Baltimore economist Anirban Basu about the impact of press negativity. Basu responded: "The psychological shift that took place in 2005 ... had to do with the Baltimore Sun, the Boston Globe and all of the rest of them saying, 'This is the peak of the market.'"

Other problems cropped up later, he said -- lots of other problems. Still, he said, journalists have made "a bad situation worse" by piling on.

Et tu, Basu?

"But at the end of the day," he added, "this is just economics."

All right then. The Wonk feels better.

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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About Jamie Smith Hopkins

Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
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