But do they?

Barry Ritholtz, over at Seeking Alpha is at it again and rightfully so, calling NAR a fraudulent, misleading trade group. I agree. Why can’t NAR put on an honest face, as other trade groups do and tell the truth as it is, is beyond my comprehension.

You remember NAR’s disingenuous spin in the title of its February’s statistics saying sales had gone up while the actual article told otherwise? Even the venerable, yet sometimes also overly manipulative Wall Street Journal ate the story without any proper research with this piece. We seriously need to have journalists again and not media digesters.

“In a front page, 3rd paragraph snafu, the Journal writes: “On Monday, new data suggested that pressures like these are starting to drive prices low enough to attract some buyers back into the market. Sales of previously occupied homes jumped 2.9% in February from the month before, the National Association of Realtors said, the first increase since July.” Wrong!

Barry continues to write: “As we noted Monday, that was not what the data stated at all: “Changes from January to February are measuring seasonal differences, not actual improvements in house sales.” Can you imagine what it would be like if we reported retail sales from December to January this way? Headlines would misleadingly state: “Retail sales plummet 65%!” That is why with highly seasonal data series, the preferred methodology is to report year-over-year data — not month-to-month variations. “. And to prove the point, NAR was voted the worse forecaster from Slate.com, a title they fully deserve.

It really is a shame the real estate profession has such a negative image and groups such as NAR only add to it. NAR does a great disservice to the profession, predicts numbers that never happen, and twists statistical interpretation while failing to rally up the spirits. NAR, just quit it! It is embarrassing . Let’s hope this year’s new leader will steer NAR to become competent and a point of reference instead of experts’ favorite laugh. Ah, to be number one in the fish bowl. You can do whatever you want. But it is self-defeating…