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Letter to the Editor: A Local Paper Sells Housing Short
Editor’s note: Following is a shortened version of a letter to the editor of The News & Observer in North Carolina that was forwarded to Nation’s Building News by its author.
Dear Editor:
Since my youth, I have been an avid newspaper reader and follower of current events. I look forward to the morning, when I can enjoy my first cup of coffee and the local newspaper and catch up on what’s happening in my backyard as well as around the U.S. and the world. Even with the instant communication and seemingly endless feeds of news and information available online, I still find myself “addicted” to my morning ritual.
Having lived in a number of cities and traveled to countless others, I have experienced the good and the bad “fish wrap” — and I consider The News & Observer to be a fine publication, generally worthy of its lofty perch as North Carolina’s capital city newspaper. However, over the past few years, I have found myself increasingly gritting my teeth and wondering why I continue to subscribe to a publication that so unfairly chastises my profession.
You see, I’m a home builder and real estate broker, working as hard as I can to survive the current downswing in my industry. Every day, I am deluged with the unenviable task of juggling numerous factors and potential outcomes related to our industry and where we are headed. Don’t get me wrong — I love what I do. There are few things more rewarding than watching a beautiful home rise from a vacant lot or an excited new home owner collect their keys at closing to move into their new residence or hearing a stranger tell me that my firm has been recommended to them because of how we do business.
That’s why I’m e-mailing you today. I needed to vent my frustration, and that of thousands upon thousands of North Carolinians whose livelihood is directly or indirectly tied to the housing market who undoubtedly feel the same as I do. I have read countless stories in the N&O about the demise of the housing market, tales of doom and gloom with a local negative spin on a transitional market. Why, I have asked myself and others, can’t our local newspaper occasionally downplay the national trends and report what is happening in our state? Why so many headlines like “Housing Bubble Threatens U.S. Economy” or “Triangle Home Sales Down for Fourth Straight Month,” instead of “Triangle Housing Market Defies National Trends” or “North Carolina Home Values Increase for 14th Straight Month”?
I know — doom and gloom sells papers. That’s the conventional wisdom, it seems, within your industry. Not ours. Not for the hundreds of small and large firms that have closed shop and handed the office keys to the landlord or even worse, their bank. Not for the builder, local or national, who cannot carry the burden of interest on unsold spec homes and lots any longer. Not for the nearly 100,000 licensed real estate professionals in North Carolina who are hoping to see their industry rebound before they are forced to seek other employment. Not for the myriad businesses (bankers, lenders, attorneys, surveyors, subcontractors of all types, vendors and suppliers, and dozens more) who depend upon this market for their livelihood.
I, for one, feel nothing less than a “punch in the gut” every time I read this negative press. I’ll bet there are thousands more like me — people who feel that with a little support from the media, we could speed this turnaround in our market. Our biggest hurdle these days is the “fence-sitter” — that couple in Raleigh who really wants to downsize into a new home, but is cautious because of what the paper says; the young lady who has saved for her first home, but feels she needs to wait because she has read that prices are falling; or the growing family in Wake Forest that needs a larger home, but can’t bring themselves to pull the trigger yet because of fears brought to their doorstep every morning by the local newspaper.
Local and state real estate associations are spending tons of money to get the word out about what a wonderful time today is to buy a home, with interest rates at historic lows and money available to qualified buyers, the way it is supposed to be. Our market is poised for a rebound, but we need your help! All the good press about what a great place the Triangle is in which to live, the recent piece in Forbes magazine describing us as “a recession-proof” area, our many great attractions and work opportunities — all this fades to black without your support.
Steve Cunningham
Raleigh, N.C.
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