Housing.com News, Analysis & Opinion: Moving & Relocation: David Lereah Comes To Jesus

"We're in a real estate recession," said David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, who surprised many this week when he announced he would leave the Chicago-based trade group on May 19. "I'm projecting the first [nationwide] price drop since the Great Depression," he said. "We're going to have negative home prices in 2007."

It’s because of assholes like this that I despise economists. So many of them prostitute themselves to the highest bidder by putting out economic bullshit spin and painting rosy pictures that even people like myself who are untrained in economics but read a lot can see right through.

Absolutely. The fact that a bunch of people in different professions could so clearly see what so-called "economists" could or would not says volumes about the overratedness of that profession. Lereah was paid to say and do whatever necessary to ensure people bought homes in the market, and that included fudging figures, facts, and stats to make his point. The guy is a charlatan, a buffoon, a liar, and a fraud. Worse, he's not even denying any of it:

In characteristic cheerleader style he demurred when asked whether he ever felt pressure from within NAR to skew forecasts in a positive direction."You'll have to talk to me about that in two or three weeks," Lereah said. "I work for NAR now."

In other words, as long as they're signing his paychecks he'll say what he has to say. Who's going to bet that as soon as he's out the door, he'll be shilling for a book that explains why it's a great time to rent?

(I don't remember if it was someone at Marinite's blog or Keith over at Housing Panic who made that hilarious image, but kudos to you in any event.)

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://weblog.housing.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/378

In what should come as a surprise to no one, the former #1 real-estate shill is revising his economic forecasts downward as he hustles out the door: "We're in a real estate recession," said David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, who surprised many this week when he announced he would leave the Chicago-based trade group on May 19. "I'm projecting the first [nationwide] price drop since the Great Depression," he said. "We're going to have negative home prices in 2007." The article already quotes my boy David Lereah Watch, but CenterBlue also gets a few well-deserved shots in: It’s because of assholes like this that I despise economists. So many of them prostitute themselves to the highest bidder by putting out economic bullshit spin and painting rosy pictures that even people like myself who are untrained in economics but read a lot can see right through. Absolutely. The fact that a bunch of people in different professions could so clearly see what so-called "economists" could or would not says volumes about the overratedness of that profession. Lereah was paid to say and do whatever necessary to ensure people bought homes in the market, and that included fudging figures, facts, and stats to make his point. The guy is a charlatan, a buffoon, a liar, and a fraud. Worse, he's not even denying any of it: In characteristic cheerleader style he demurred when asked whether he ever felt pressure from within NAR to skew forecasts in a positive direction."You'll have to talk to me about that in two or three weeks," Lereah said. "I work for NAR now." In other words, as long as they're signing his paychecks he'll say what he has to say. Who's going to bet that as soon as he's out the door, he'll be shilling for a book that explains why it's a great time to rent? (I don't remember if it was someone at Marinite's blog or Keith over at Housing Panic who made that hilarious image, but kudos to you in any event.)