Oregon Media Insiders

Could it be that the Bulletin sells a lot of ad space to the real
estate people in Central oregon?
Duh...ya think that could be case?

With The Oregonian, don't they have a prominent disclaimer that the stories in the Homes & Gardens section are a product of the advertising department, while actual real estate news is in the business section?

The amount of unsold inventory in Bend is staggering. The bubble has popped, with top notch builders such as Renaissance Homes looking at inventories in the double and triple digits. The math alone dictates a long, slow recovery for housing prices in what was a highly overvalued city.

If Fisher's reporting was edited to create a false picture of reality, then the Bulletin is guilty of allowing the breach of the ethical barrier between sales and journalism.

If he merely took a couple of days off in an exaggerated fit of pique, it's quite possible he deserved his fate.

Otherwise he looks like the Sheriff in Jaws wanting to get the word out to be careful on the beach while the town fathers were far more concerned with tourism.

Either way, there's blood in the water.

...do any of you work in a place where you can just stay away from work for two days unannounced without taking vacation time, without calling in sick, so that you'll be prepared to bitch out the boss?

Read this again: ["He didn’t claim to be sick, but wanted time to cool down before confronting Stearns about the butchered story and asking to be transferred to a different beat where he could cover the news “without what I perceived to be the editors' emotional desire to slant coverage of the real estate market.”]

I've seen this happen before. Management really doesn't like a guy but doen't see enough reason to fire him. Then, unfavored guy opens the door wide enough to drive a truck through and he's fired.

The lesson here isn't entirely about journalistic ethics. Sure, the real estate editor might suck. But so did the dismissed employee's tactics. He'll be darned lucky if he qualifies for unemployment benefits. Bad, bad move.

I'm not familiar with the situation at the Bulletin. But I do think that most news outlets severely underestimate the effect their real estate coverage has on the real estate market.

Good for you Mr. Fisher. Fight the good fight.

Bend is still a "good 'ol boys' town" and unfortunately it sounds like Fisher didn't follow the rules. Central Oregon is growing, the men that run this town want the $$ that brings without the accountability or the media attention that also comes with it!

The real estate community runs the town. I can't find the link on my blog but I remember the real estate community in Bend issuing statements to Realtors asking them to 'use their purchasing power' to influence how the market is reported.

Are there any standards for objectivity in print?
I'm not being cynical...
I really want to know if this stuff is allowed.

Clint
http://www.portlandhousing.blogspot.com

Portland's housing market is as healthy as ever. Appreciation will continue at a double digit rate as are salaries. Inventory is normal and prices are affordable for the average folks. All is good:O)

...has been robust for quite a while but that doesn't mean this is going to continue. Even though the mortgage crisis has had a somewhat limited impact here; the impact on a slowing economy will effect all - including local housing supply and prices. Six months from now; I think the outlook will be quite different. Yes, we are in a recession.

Here's a contrasting viewpoint from someone who has a lot of properties and is looking to buy more. I don't sell property for anyone else. I just buy it, rent it, hold it and get rich doing it. I've been at it quite a while.

I would personally love to see RE prices collapse over the next couple of years. I'd gladly take a big hit to my net worth on paper in order to scoop up houses, duplexes, condos at big discounts.

So, my bias is---LET IT HAPPEN!. Problem is I just don't think it will. Love 'em or hate 'em, Oregon's urban growth boundaries aren't expanding and our population continues to grow. 95% of Oregon's population is crammed onto 5% of the land with the vast majority of the population along the I-5 corridor. We're not surrounded by the Pacific Ocean like Hawaii but we might as well be. There is simply no political will to expand UGB's---especially if there is a construction slowdown. I'm not saying that's right or wrong---I'm just telling it like it is.

Bottom line; Even if short-term unemployment problems develop we'll still have more than enough people to fill our housing. Remember, too, that people losing their homes haven't necessarily lost their jobs and they'll still need a place to live. Those folks will simply go from being owners to being renters. That, in fact, is why more homes are in foreclosure now---at the same time that rents are increasing.

Those who want to harken back to the recession of the early 80's need to remember that our economy is extremely diverse now. It wasn't then. Remember also that 1st mortgage interest rates were in the low, mid, even upper teens. Today they're in the mid single digits.

I hope you're all right. I hope the market drops 20% or more. I'd scoop up as much as I could and pay for it with rising rental income.

Before you worry about all those high rise condos think about Vancouver, BC. You can't get anything there for less than half-a-million and demand remains big. Why? Urban growth boundaries.

Don't panic if you're a homeowner. As long as you can make your payments you'll be fine. Don't wait too long if you're looking to buy because the opportunity may be now. If there are panicky individual sellers find them and make low offers. I don't believe the Portland/Salem/Eugene/Medford type markets will necessarily reward a long wait.

Just my opinion. Lynn, if this proves wrong post this again in a year and open me to ridicule. I'm not worried about that happening.

"Are there any standards for objectivity in print?
I'm not being cynical...
I really want to know if this stuff is allowed."

I've worked for plenty of newspapers and have never experienced a whitewashing of real estate stories that I produce. I can't say that it never happens, but I can say that it is not, by any means, a standard practice.

It's also an allegation that would infuriate any of the three editors I've worked with in the past few years.

The complaints from Real Estate Bears about a preponderance of Real Estate Bulls being quoted in stories can usually be solved pretty quickly by calling the beat reporter whose work you don't appreciate.

I'll tell you from experience, that doesn't happen nearly enough.

The bottom line for print: if you don't like what people are saying in the pages, say something yourself.

I work at a real estate company, and I can tell you that the number one scapegoat for the rapidly-deflating market is the media.

Seriously, everyone in this business believes that the media, with all of it's "doom-and-gloom" stories is keeping the market from improving. The brokers groan about the "damn media" in every meeting we have anymore. This is, of course, completely retarded, but it's the line the Realtors are sticking to. As always, they're quick to blame everyone and everything else for the cesspool they created.

I would bet dollars to donuts that the Bulletin, the big O, and every other newspaper in Oregon don't want to step too far over the line drawn in the sand by one of their biggest cash cows. Times are tough enough for newspapers without losing all of that sweet, sweet real estate advertising cash.

I wouldn't be surprised at all that Fisher would get fired for not being a rah-rah cheerleader, especially in Bend (which is a perfect storm of good-ol-boy backroom dealings and a real estate market that's crashing harder than nearly any other in the country). Don't want to upset the developers out there these days... they're backed against the wall and like everyone else in this foul industry, would rather point the finger of blame anywhere but at themselves when things go wrong (just ask Renaissance Homes about the million or so bucks they owe to Key Bank on homes they built on speculation and now can't sell!)

I've got to figure Renaissance Homes owes 50 times that, given the unsold inventory they have in Bend alone.

Excellent point about the pressure to maintain cash flow at the newspapers. There is a pragmatic balance that needs to be struck if you're going to keep publishing. It doesn't take too long for someone you're putting on the spot to quit writing checks. It's human nature. How do you walk the fine line between pimping and eviscerating an industry that ultimately funds your writing? Tough in today's economy.

I can see how they could blame the new media for the slate of 'Doom and Gloom' stories, I tend to agree that the media sometimes focuses on the negative, but the O and other papers are also the ones who help them make the most money (see the reason for this string). Have you seen the O lately? The NWHG, Northwest Homes and Gardens, section has become the Northwest Homes and Homes section. Their recent 'Special Garden Issue' magazine had home stories for the first 68 pages. Heck, A&E featured designers on the front cover 2 weeks ago. Talk about promoting an industry!

Check The Bulletin online edition today...Renaissance Ridge from Randy Sebastian & the crew at Renaissance Homes is going into foreclosure...over 13 million in debt.

A business that relies on ad sales, no less!

My favorite bit is where reporters always ask the people with the greatest conflict of interest, the real estate agents, about how the market is doing... Might as well ask crack dealers about the harmful effects of their product, or expect a fair report on a technology that takes faces away from screens like the WWW or cuts into revenues like Craig's List.

I'd always ascribed that tendency to incompetence rather than malice. Even if it is true, I can't believe someone would be stupid enough to leave any evidence of that.

P.S. Isn't it that time of the month where Pamplin trots out yet another story about the horrors of Craig's List?