Whenever the National Association of Realtors says the housing market should be improving shortly, Wall Street pundits stomp Yun and company for being self-serving.

Back in December, Newsweek editor Daniel Gross called the NAR cockeyed optimists while noting that the trade organization's economist "is uniquely ill-equipped to deliver sobering forecasts. They work for a trade group whose mission is to buck up the spirits of real-estate brokers. And real-estate brokers—who live to sell, promote, and market -- are constitutionally disinclined to hear anything but good news."

Back in June 2004, I wrote a story called "The Perfect Real Estate Storm."

"But homebuyers in 2004 are facing a set of conditions that previous generations have never had before in the aggregate. National news, economic conditions, lending and borrowing conditions, and buyers' expectations, and much more are creating a perfect storm of conditions that separately and combined could flatten the existing housing market, and impact new homes as well," I wrote.

I listed jobs, ongoing terrorist threats, Alan Greenspan, inflation, affordability, the overburdened consumer, debt service, easy loans, and high tapped-equity asking prices as my reasons why we might be looking at the "largest housing recession in modern history."

Gee, I'm good, and I'm not even an economist. But the one thing I didn't see was the impact of subprime loans. Nobody did, not even Yun, because the magnitude of those numbers were being hidden from investors by the very banks supplying the loans to be packaged into securities.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. Wall Street is desperately trying to assure its scalded investors that a 2000-point loss by the DOW is just a short-term fluctuation and all part of the fun.

Asset manager Rob Stein told CNN Money that the US "market really hasn't been all that volatile if you look at what it's done over the past few weeks."

Guess that doesn't count the 5.2 trillion dollars in world stock market losses calculated by Standard & Poor's which blamed the US subprime crisis.

Then he says that stock market wealth is built over time. "We have a jittery market and if you don't like that, sit on the sidelines. But whenever the market falls as much as it has over the past few months, it's usually a good time to buy."

You mean when prices fall, that's a good time to buy? Funny, that sounds just like Yun!

As Gross notes, "Many economists are associated with corporations, Wall Street firms, and trade groups, where it doesn't pay to be bearish."

Or a pot calling the kettle black.

Published: February 25, 2008

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.