During some recent conferences I have been speaking at, there is always talk of the foreclosure market and how nobody has money. People all around are starting to believe that no properties are selling, and that no buyers are available.
Where did this misconception come from? The Media! Every day on the news, people are hearing about the foreclosure crisis, the economic crisis, and how everyone is out of work.
Some basic knowledge of media will help to alleviate some of these concerns. If you understand what news organizations are doing, you'll realize that they are not there to report the news. They are there as a business trying to maximize revenue. Media gets their revenue mainly from advertisers. Advertisers want to know how many people view that particular media source. The more viewers, the more effect your advertising has.
So what does the media do? They hype every little thing up, to make it seem more spectacular, more interesting, and more dramatic that it actually is. If they just report the news, it is mainly pretty boring, nobody will watch, and then the ratings, and hence the advertising revenue, goes down.
So when you see stories about foreclosures and real estate on the news, have a discriminating eye. For example: If a headline reads, "Foreclosures up 300%!!!!!" The intent of the media is to lead you to believe that everyone is losing their home. It may be that one pocket of one town, in one particularly hard hit area has that stat, but the media will make it sound like it's everywhere.
Also consider, if the media says foreclosures jumped 100%!!!! ...drama...drama....hype....ooooh....ahhhh.... fake tears, solemn appearances of reporters, etc., remember there is always the other side of the coin. You don't hear them report that overall, foreclosures are only 3% of the market. They don't report that 30% of all houses in the country are owned free and clear, and nobody is going to be foreclosing on them.
The main point to remember here, is that there is good and bad in most situations. There are positives and negatives to everything. Don't let the media give you a head fake and make you believe that the sky is falling. That's what they want you to believe because it's exciting and they sell more advertising if they hype things up a bit. Just watch for a few news cycles, you'll see it very clearly.
During some recent conferences I have been speaking at, there is always talk of the foreclosure market and how nobody has money. People all around are starting to believe that no properties are selling, and that no buyers are available.
Where did this misconception come from? The Media! Every day on the news, people are hearing about the foreclosure crisis, the economic crisis, and how everyone is out of work.
Some basic knowledge of media will help to alleviate some of these concerns. If you understand what news organizations are doing, you'll realize that they are not there to report the news. They are there as a business trying to maximize revenue. Media gets their revenue mainly from advertisers. Advertisers want to know how many people view that particular media source. The more viewers, the more effect your advertising has.
So what does the media do? They hype every little thing up, to make it seem more spectacular, more interesting, and more dramatic that it actually is. If they just report the news, it is mainly pretty boring, nobody will watch, and then the ratings, and hence the advertising revenue, goes down.
So when you see stories about foreclosures and real estate on the news, have a discriminating eye. For example: If a headline reads, "Foreclosures up 300%!!!!!" The intent of the media is to lead you to believe that everyone is losing their home. It may be that one pocket of one town, in one particularly hard hit area has that stat, but the media will make it sound like it's everywhere.
Also consider, if the media says foreclosures jumped 100%!!!! ...drama...drama....hype....ooooh....ahhhh.... fake tears, solemn appearances of reporters, etc., remember there is always the other side of the coin. You don't hear them report that overall, foreclosures are only 3% of the market. They don't report that 30% of all houses in the country are owned free and clear, and nobody is going to be foreclosing on them.
The main point to remember here, is that there is good and bad in most situations. There are positives and negatives to everything. Don't let the media give you a head fake and make you believe that the sky is falling. That's what they want you to believe because it's exciting and they sell more advertising if they hype things up a bit. Just watch for a few news cycles, you'll see it very clearly.