http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/realestate/12cov.html?pagewanted=1&ref=realestate

If they're paying down your interest rate and covering other costs, all it does is to make the sales prices seem higher than they really are

Factoring this in, maybe 12% down (per the brokerage reports) is really an understatement...

nyc10022, I actually think this could be a valid point, but how can you cite the NYT RE section when you constantly insist it's not much more than an ad section? It's a little disingenuous to do so only when it seems to support your MO.

bjw, there is a big "if" at the beginning of my sentence. And then a big maybe in the next one.

I'm certainly not using the Times for market data. They just happened to mention a concept, and I figured that worthy of discussion.

I think its disingenuous to say I'm using this to "support [my] MO".

Fair enough, but you did name the thread "why the RE reports are worse than they appear" which kind of takes the "if" and the "maybe" out of the equation, no? How is what I said "disingenuous"? A bit presumptuous, perhaps, but not disingenuous.

I think they want people to be scared into buying, except Urbandigs who wants people to be scared into selling.

I mean, man, it's all about fear and keeping people afraid. Freaking afraid. Just ask Bush and Cheney.