A letter to the editor critical of the Herald's real estate coverage-- ie. too much "feel good" reporting on the abysmal real estate markets-- appears in the opinion section. It is another in a line of periodic acknowledgements in the Herald of another point of view to the standard Herald editorial perspective: no bitters without a a few tablespoons of honey. Mr. Donet writes, "Give us the raw numbers, and it will be easier to see that things are not getting better." (click more to read full letter) This is along the line of Eyeonmiami's blog posts for nearly four years. It is our point of view that the Herald, because of its loyalty to advertisers and compensation of top executives based on quarterly reports to Wall Street and shareholders, completely missed reporting out the biggest story of the century: the political and economic origins of an historic housing boom and bust starting right here in Miami. Mr. Donet suggests, and we agree, the Herald is making the same mistakes.
What we have extrapolated from reading the paper closely and listening to Herald reporters is that the periodic publication of letters contradictory to Herald editorial preferences serves a single purpose. It is not to educate readers, or even, to allow diverse points of view to appear in the LTE section that could never find there way into a Herald investigative report. No, the purpose of these letters is to politely push back against the coordinated response of the engineering cartel and downtown lawyers and lobbyists representing land speculators, whenever a story appears that has even a trace of contamination by bad news. The way it works: an investigative report critical of the status quo, or at least hinting of criticism appears, and waves of phone calls start making their way to the publisher's office or senior editors. It could be a phone call from Armando Codina or Sergio Pino or their representatives. Or Greenberg Traurig. When was Mr. Donet or his perspective last granted an interview at the Herald by the paper's executives or reporters? How about Mr. Codina or Mr. Pino? When was the last time they were allowed to address the news room? When did the publisher last reach out to dissenters of growth-at-any-cost? The answer is in the question, Mr. Donet.
Put real-estate picture in context
Re The Miami Herald's March 24 article Home, condo sales rising: It's disheartening that The Miami Herald published statistics provided by the Florida Association of Realtors in percentages instead of raw numbers. The FAR reports 11,890 sales for the entire state in February. However, in Miami-Dade County alone, there were 4,878 new foreclosure lawsuits filed in February.
I'd like to see The Miami Herald report the actual number of sales for our county, not just the percentages. Give us the raw numbers, and it will be easier to see that things are not getting better.
I represent homeowners facing foreclosure. Every day, I see more members of our community falling into the foreclosure system.
Just passing along ``feel-good'' statistics about an increase in real-estate sales ignores the reality that our community is facing. How many of these sales are a result of a foreclosure or short sale as opposed to a ``normal'' transaction? If there were 1,000 homes sold in a particular month, but 999 of those sellers had lost their homes to foreclosure, then I assume that the headline would be different.
To say that the inventory of unsold homes is shrinking ignores the thousands of homes already foreclosed on by banks that are not yet listed for sale. These statistics also ignore the reality that many of the 64,000 foreclosures filed in Miami-Dade in 2009 (and the 9,000 foreclosures filed through the end of February 2010), will end up being placed on the market as well.
The increase in sales of homes is newsworthy. However, our community needs to know all of the facts about our real-estate market in order to put the information in context.
DENNIS A. DONET, Miami
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/30/1554321/put-real-estate-picture-in-context.html#ixzz0jfEDfh4K
5 comments:
I started writing monthly (or more) letters to the editor to the Herald re: housing in 2003. I'd fill them full of facts and historical observations. Not once was one published. Not once.
The Herald is useless. Some stuff off the wires, pages of car and house ads and a few small stories about local events (eg. local kid killed in attack). I ended my subscription in 2009.
I may be dreaming, but I give The Miami Herald two years. My bet is that it will cease publication within two years. There just doesn't seem to be any other way for it to go.
gimleteye, of course you and Mr. Donet are exactly right. The Miami Herald is constitutionally unable to do anything but paste a smiley face over the pile of manure that is the economy. And there is a special irony when you consider this irreversible economic decline will destroy the Herald itself. (Anon's two year time frame is generous. Bet it happens sooner.)
Suggestion. Can we start calling the housing market, unreal estate, just for clarity?
"un real estate" or "failed estate" - either one works for me. Well put.
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