So a couple of days ago, Jim Cramer is on the Today Show, saying “Don’t you dare buy a home now, you’ll lose money”.
Fine, his opinion. He’s clearly entitled to an opinion and has never been shy about sharing one.
Personally, I think it is silly to make a blanket statement like that — swiping a wide brush across the country and every possible buying situation — and proclaiming “you’ll lose money”.
Does Cramer really think if someone purchases a home today, lives in it for say 5, 7, 10 years or more and sells it that they’ll lose money? Or is he thinking that if someone buys any home today, anywhere in the country, that next week the home will be worth less? (Which of course is a paper loss, not a real loss)
Who knows, it’s Cramer.
And to be honest, I don’t really care what he says. It’s an opinion, and by definition, that can not be wrong.
What is wrong is this New Jersey Realtor group getting all whiny and wanting their members to send letters to the Today Show to whine and cry about what Cramer said.
Get over it people. The guy’s a talking head who gets paid (very well) to create controversy.
He’s just doing his job.
Maybe you should try doing yours. Houses are bought and sold every day. Quit wasting time bitching about what people say and get out there and educate your clients and sell a freaking house. For the love of Pete I’m tired of Realtor associations stumbling over their own words and sobbing over other’s words. It’s the real estate market. Deal with it or seek employment elsewhere.
Here’s the video. Think Cramer is going to retract / apologize?
[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4058514050395422030&hl=en[/googlevideo]
Hat tip to Morgan at Blown Mortgage for the video linkage.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Very good point Jay, I think there are way too many people trying to skim the cream off the top, and don’t really care about the people they work with. And trying to buy a house and flip it in two years and make a killing, will only get you in trouble. That’s a get rich quick scheme like I get in my inbox every day. It’s not realistic.
In my opinion Cramer is just trying to support his previous meltdown in August. Yes Jay you are taking a mature view of his immature, irresponsible comments.
What really burns me are the comments made by our 2007 NAR First Vice President. When Cramer asked
“where would you buy today”
he answered
“uh uh Indiana? Michigan?”
Excuse me what happened to New York, Chicago, San Francisco?
The 1stVP`s opening statement was shot down by
“They said the same thing in August 2006″
For Cramer it was like shooting fish in a bucket, no not a barrel, a bucket. It reminded me of a 1990 Mike Tyson fight.
Where is the NAR`s PR department?
As far as NJ. They should give a rebuttal. Then move on and sell houses.
Great points Jay. If we just sat around and listened to the media all day, you would think the world was going to come to an end at any second. Meanwhile 6,000 + homes are being sold in our market each month, so we might as well go out and be a part of the action. That is, before the world ends
I think on one hand Cramer making a blanket statement is silly. Some areas of the market are doing fine. And some neighborhoods in poorly performing cities are doing well.
At the same time NAR should not be getting into a national back and forth with guys like Cramer. It just lends them more credibility. NAR should really stay out of the home predicting game altogether. When people ask about the market going up and down NAR should just say “We work to represent our member base at the hill. Predicting the future swings of the market is not our job”.
I don’t think Jim will apologize. You nailed it when you said he’s just doing his job. I think he should have explained himself a little more and realized he was talking to a nation and not just one city/region. There are a few, if not many, real estate markets throughout our nation that are doing pretty well. I’ll admit I don’t like how the media constantly keeps people on the “fence” but it is what it is and, as you mentioned, the only thing we can do is stay positive and educate.
I rather enjoy watching Cramer’s show, when I catch it on. It seems to me that he was referring to quickly profiting off of buying homes rather than buying a home for building a family in.
If in fact that is what he is referring to, then I tend to agree with his statements. There’s a probability that would be investors might lose money or not receive the maximum return if the housing market continues to decline.
The reality is cramer is an idiot. A month or so back it was “fed doesn’t need to cut rates” and then a week or so later he damn near had a heart attack screaming about how the fed needed to relieve the pressure- cut by a full point now or the globe would stop spinning on its axis.
Jay, your point is correct in that his p*SS*ng on the market from a single point of view all the way from his penthouse studios does have a nasty effect on perception. Responding to him in any way shape or form does lend credibility, however, an equal balance of positive news keeps people thinking rather than decided.
If you read the message boards regarding Cramer and his opinions, the messages speak for themselves.
“Whatever Cramer tells you to do, do the opposite.”
His latest prediction was to sell Apple when it was at 133. Two days later, it broke 155.
This may be a good thing for real estate if he did say that. Maybe more people will start buying because he said not too.
It amazes me this guy is still on the air.
Hey Jay,
Did you notice the next day Cramer repeatedly kept plugging my area of the country with saying that “Seattle isn’t doing to bad”.
I didn’t agree with much that he had to say either day with his attempts at covering the housing market or his choice of poor words about the National Association of Realtors.
I just believe there is so much negative chatter out there, that it’s probably going to take a year or two to work the negative out of the market.
I’ve been a fulltime Realtor going on 15 years and was a student of the business most of my life. My take is that we are just going thru the cycles of real estate. If one were to look at history, you would see that those strong up markets usually last about 3 years or so. On the back side of those sharp upturns are usally a buyers market and then we get back into a normal market.
Don’t expect to see one of those crazy markets for awhile. A buyers market-normal market usually lasts from 6-10 years. In my area we have been in this current market since Sept. 2005.
Hope all is well down in Phoenix Jay, see ya over at Point2…later.
Couldn’t agree with you more Jay. Never could stand Cramer; I flip through the channels just to get away from his screaming voice.
All the media talks about is how the real estate market is going to continue to drop and that it’s crazy to buy right now. There’s never any discussion of the positive; more inventory, more negotiating power etc. Sometimes I’m afraid to pick up the morning newspaper for fear of what’s going to be said next.
I heard him say in a TV interview in 2008 that the real estate market would recover in 2009. So, I’m confused. I think…now, is a great time to buy a home….when less people are shopping for one.
Jay Valento