Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  Let’s get one thing clear. Context in content is  always  important. But when it comes to the housing market, especially the one we’ve seen the last few years, it’s even more crucial. Why? Because the market trends in recent years are anything but normal. So, when you’re answering questions or dodging objections, context matters even more. Let’s break down an example. This is a recent headline a major news outlet published: We’re all guilty of seeing headlines and jumping to conclusions. We’re especially guilty of not diving in and reading the entire article to understand the full context of how that statement came to be. But words like “price drop” are alarming when it comes to the housing market. They give the impression that home prices will fall, possibly significantly, this year. Opinions are formed, conclusions are made, and misinformation is spread. However,  this headline  couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s where context comes in. If you look at the visual below, you

  Foreclosures Housing Market Updates There’s been a lot of recession talk over the past couple of years. And that may leave you worried we’re headed for a repeat of what we saw back in 2008. Here’s a look at the latest expert projections to show you why that isn’t going to happen.   According  to Jacob Channel, Senior Economist at  LendingTree , the economy’s pretty strong: “At least right now, the fundamentals of the economy, despite some hiccups, are doing pretty good. While things are far from perfect,  the economy is probably doing better than people want to give it credit for .” That might be why a  recent survey  from the  Wall Street Journal  shows only 39% of economists think there’ll be a recession in the next year. That’s way down from 61% projecting a recession just one year ago ( see graph below ): Most experts believe there won’t be a recession in the next 12 months. One reason why is the current unemployment rate. Let’s compare where we are now with historical data from