How Can They Say These Things in Good Conscience?

Lydia Puller's article on the Bay Area Business Women website is titled Should You Buy Before the Housing Bubble Bursts? That's kind of like asking, "Should you pay retail before the sale begins next week?" Um, sure, I guess, if you like spending more than needed. What's odd about this piece of trash article is that the oxymoronic title indicates that there is a housing bubble, but then Ms. Puller quickly comments:

There will always be a demand for housing and in the past 10 years real estate has grown at a rate of 10 percent per year. ... According to the National Association of Realtors, home prices are in no danger of falling. The housing market, nationally and in California, is expected to remain strong. The market may slow down and level off and even Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve Board says the market will inevitably simmer down — but the housing bubble will not burst, property prices will not go down 10-20 percent, and the sky is not falling.

Ah, so the NAR says home prices are in no danger of falling... kind of like how that used car salesman tells me a quality '96 Mecury Sable will be the best 'investment' I can make for my automotive future. What's a bit sickening is that in this article Ms. Puller does not identify herself as a real-estate agent, but this is obvious by her rhetoric and her choice to ignore reality. In fact, a quick Google search on "Lydia Puller" returns as the #1 hit LydiaPuller.com, which indicates that Ms. Puller is an agent with Alain Pinel Realtors.

Take a moment to read the article, and I think you'll have either one of two possible reactions (if not both, one after the other). You may just kind of laugh this garbage off, figuring that a realtor is really just a salesman and a salesman will say whatever they need to make the sale. But you may also start to feel disgust. How can Ms. Pullman make these statements? The article talks about buying multiple rental properties and it being pitched to first-time homebuyers and single women/mothers. Isn't this an unconscionable sales pitch to make, in a sense? Yeah, yeah, caveat emptor, but I still think karma frowns on people who are pimping an overpriced and risky "investment" to a group of people who are least likely to be able to afford it.