Location, Location, Location, or is it Spin?

I recently received our local yellow rag newspaper.  You know, the one that is simply a delivery vehicle for grocery and other store store ads that allows them to bypass paying the Post Office to deliver them.  They also come with no coupons so they really are a waste of time.

Usually I simply pull it out of the plastic wrapper and then throw it directly into the recycle bin and discard the plastic with the rest of the trash.  I do try to be green about it but definitely come short of letting it substitute for my Charmin.

This time, however, the headline caught my eye.  It simply read, “Building permits surge in Wake Forest.”  According to the crack journalist who compiled the story permits for residential buildings were up 86% in 2010 over 2009.  Wake Forest must be the happenin’ place to be!

Fortunately you only had to read the second paragraph to find out that this 86% increase was over the 14-year low of 2009. Those of you who follow this blog know that statistics can be deceiving.  “Figures never lie but liars figure”, right?  Sadly, you have to get to page 6N, very near the end of the article to see that the almost 400 permits last year was down over 60% from the peak in 2005, so don’t everyone come running here looking for work.

So how do we take this?  86% over continued decreases don’t bring us up out of the water, however an 86% increase is much better than a 10% decrease.  And, if these homes are more reasonable and affordable, they probably will sell well to those who truly can afford them.

If builders, bankers, agents and buyers can work together responsibly, we can all make this local housing upturn successful.  Perhaps the model can be repeated elsewhere.  Jobs and growth without government bailouts.