National Real Estate News Can Be Dangerous for Local Buyers

When the national media publishes real estate news it may be contrary to local conditions and may actually harm you when making buying or selling decisions.

In December, national news outlets reported that overall sales of existing homes fell 17% across the United States. That seems pretty bad. You might have any number of different reactions to that news. It might very well influence your home buying or selling decisions.  However, during the same period, sales of Daytona Beach condos and homes were up 3% over the previous month, but a whopping 84.9% over the previous December. For 2009 results, see: Daytona Beach Real Estate Sales Up 38.1%.

In December, the S&P Case-Shiller Housing Price Index showed that prices rose in 14 of 20 markets. OK, how does that affect you? When national news sources report that housing prices are up, are they up in your neighborhood? Are they up for the area you want to buy?

There’s an adage in the newspaper business that all news is local news. That seems to be going away as many local papers are littered with stories from AP and Reuters wire services. But, for real estate the adage can be translated into all home and condo prices are local. Yes, prices are influenced by national economic and political conditions, but in the end, it’s the local market that determines prices.

The point of this article is to go to local sources when it’s in your best interest. For real estate, no matter where you are, a well informed local real estate agent may give you more relevant information during a 10 minute phone call than you could ever pick up from national news.

Finding a Knowledgeable Local Real Estate Agent

How do you know if you’ve found a local agent who knows the market? Well, a good place to start is to look at their website. Does the website contain local news reports and analysis? If it doesn’t, move on. In every area, an agent is likely to be blogging and issuing market reports. That’s a good place to start.