When the Truth Hurts, Deny and Lie...

Our well informed poster Moonvalley caught a bit of a scoop today:

moonvalley said...
"Very interesting show on KSVY this afternoon. All about RE, hosted by someone from Sothebys'. When asked about the Bubble, she in her wonderful British accent denied one existed. And, if by chance it did, it certainly wouldn't be found anywhere near magical Sonoma, where the rules of gravity do not apply and things only go up."

"When asked if there had ever been a price drop in RE from a bubble popping she said never, as long as they'd been keeping accurate records (1968). I couldn't believe it, I remember well the bubble poop of 90/91 when my house went from 550k to 200k in what seemed like the bat of an eye, another friends place went from 750k to...well, he sure as shit couldn't sell it, let's leave it at that and draw the veil. How can people say such things and not be challenged??????!!!"


Well... how can they go unchallenged indeed MV?!?!

First of all, Sotheby's is a newbie to Sonoma Valley and only jumped on the all things shishi bandwagon in Sonoma in recent years.

Secondly, either they don't keep accurate records, are too lazy to do actual research or they are lying.

Which one do you think it is?

Third, this is not rocket science, intelligent people with integrity try to be informed before they speak. The information is out there and a monkey could find it.

For example:

The Press Democrat November 9th, 2002

"Giovan said she is seeing investors flee from the stock market to invest in real estate because the returns are more dependable."

'``In one month,'' she said, ``I lost $40,000 in one account in the stock market. Other people have lost more. It's depressing. But it's a good reason to invest in real estate.'''

"There are pitfalls in real estate investing, financial planners cautioned. Landlords need to invest time overseeing their property. They don't have instant access to their money. Property values can fall, as they did in Sonoma County between 1992 and 1997. Rents can fall and vacancy rates can rise, as they have in Sonoma County this year. And investors need to study the market carefully, to be sure the rents they hope to charge are realistic."

That is but one example. Anyone with computer access could go to zillow.com and look for properties that sold between 1993 and 1998 and you can see that many of them sold for less in 1998 than they did in 1993.