Bloggers Reacts to Lereah's Admission

Former NAR Economist David Lereah is a Jackass (Big Picture): "Of all the various parties who contributed to the boom and bust in housing and credit, none have escaped more unscathed than the National Association of Realtors, and their former Baghdad-Bob-in-Chief, David Lerea

The NAR turned a blind eye to fraud amongst realtors in terms of referrals to corrupt appraisers and mortgage brokers. They constantly cheerleaded prices, despite evidence to the contrary. For 3 years, they have been forecasting 2nd half price recoveries, dissuading realism amongst home sellers. They continually spun data, presented misleading commentary, and otherwise engaged in behavior that could only be characterized as sleazy."


David Lereah does a pathetic one-eighty (The Mess That Greenspan Made): "Pathetic, just pathetic...

Leaning against his granite countertops when hundreds of thousands of former homeowners who thought he was telling the truth back in 2005 had to turn their granite countertops over to the bank, the little smirk, the casual tone, the change in outlook, the ham-handed acknowledgment that he was wrong but that he was just doing his job, so, it was understandable that he might be wrong and him taking responsibility for being wrong now is quite a noble thing to do. Pathetic... "


David Lereah finally admits that he was a paid liar, sent out by the evil National Association of realtors to deceive and ruin lives (Soots and Ashes): "The NAR should be banned, broken up under RICO and Robinson-Patman. They are evil, they are directly responsible for the ongoing worldwide financial collapse, they have been exposed, and they should be destroyed."

David Lereah Admits He 'Spun' For the Realtors. Takes Responsibility

David Lereah, currently working for Reecon Advisors Inc, now admits he "put a positive spin" on the housing market during the boom and bust times. Mr. Lereah goes on to take responsibility for his predictions while he was at the National Association of Realtors. This comes from a recent interview with Money Magazine article titled 'Former real estate bull admits, "I spun"'.

Q: Were you wrong to be so bullish?

A: I worked for an association promoting housing, and it was my job to represent their interests. If you look at my actual forecasts, the numbers were right inline with most forecasts. The difference was that I put a positive spin on it It was easy to do during boom times, harder when times weren’t good. I never thought the whole national real estate market would burst.

Q: Any regrets?

A: I would not have done anything different. But I was a public spokesman writing about housing having a good future. I was wrong. I have to take responsibility for that.

It is a positive that Mr. Lereah is taking partial responsibility for his actions while he was working at the NAR. It all begs the question is Lawrence Yun also engaging in 'positive spin?'

Additional Links:

Realtor Chief Economist: “I spun” (NJ Real Estate Report)

Another Reason Not to Trust So-Called Economic Experts (Seeking Alpha)

Lereah & Others Missing The Housing Bubble

From a blog at The Atlantic:

Unless I were allowed to rely exclusively on David Lereah (until recently the permabullish economist for the National Association of Realtors) I would be hard put to find one economic expert who had completely missed the housing bubble, much less write an entire article consulting no one else.

David Lereah definitely missed and dismissed the housing bubble. If one goes back to 2004, 2005 or even 2006 there were plenty of economic experts who had completely missed the housing bubble including economists at Harvard the Federal Reserve and at other prominent institutions.

Dean Baker Criticizes Washington Post for Quoting Lereah So Often

Dean Bake Criticizes Washington Post for Quoting Lereah So Often as an 'Expert' on the housing market.

First, reporters should recognize that people employed by an industry lobby have an ax to grind. They are not neutral observers. This means that it was incredibly irresponsible to have David Lereah, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, as the Post's most widely cited expert on the housing market. Lereah was in the business of selling homes, not helping Post readers understand the economics of housing. The paper's reporters and editors should have known this.

I agree entirely with Dean Baker's criticism of the Washington Post. It should be noted that it was not just the Washington Post, but many others in the media also relied primarily on 'expertise' from paid shills working for the real estate industry's various trade group. These paid shills actively promoted the interests of their employers even when the facts flew in their face.

David Lereah & Mccain

David Lereah & His Ill Fated Book

The Wall Street Journal reports on book's whose title's quickly became ridiculous as events unfolded.

"Obviously I would change the title," says David Lereah, the former chief economist of the National Association of Realtors and author of "Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust -- And How You Can Profit From It," published in paperback in February 2006. "There are places in the book where I actually say the boom is not healthy. But people don't read the book, and they just look at the title and they criticize it."

That doesn't sit well with authors, who often blame their publishers when books are overtaken by events. "We argued back and forth," says Mr. Lereah, the real-estate author, who says he didn't want the titles to be so bold. "But you know, I'm a big boy, I agreed to what they told me to do and you've got to live with it," he adds.

Doubleday Business, Mr. Lereah's publisher and a unit of Random House, confirmed that the book's titles were suggested by the publishing team but said that they were based on his reasoning.

"In retrospect, everyone was fooled," says Roger Scholl, editorial director for Doubleday Business. "I would certainly say I was fooled. No one saw what was going to happen with real estate."

Mr. Lereah's book was served up in hardcover in February 2005 with the title "Are You Missing The Real Estate Boom? Why Home Values and Other Real Estate Investments Will Climb Through the End of the Decade -- And How to Profit From Them." That edition sold 12,000 copies.

It was downhill from then. The paperback sold 2,300 copies in 2006 and 250 in 2007, according to Nielsen BookScan. So far this year, it's notched just 20 sales, Nielsen says.

At least his book is now historic memorabilia for the housing bubble.

Glenn Beck Mocks Lereah & Yun

Glenn Beck mocks the current and former chief economists at the National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun & David Lereah for the their history of bad predictions.