So Is the Real Estate News Good or Bad?

Yesterday, trolling the web for real estate news, I had a hard time deciding whether the market was improving or deteriorating, whether the news was good or bad. It depended what I was reading and where it was published.

There were stories of home sales soaring in various parts of the country, including some of those hit worst by the recession. There were stories, too, about foreclosures going up and lending requirements tightening. For every 'up' story there was a 'down' one. How are readers supposed to understand what's really happening?

Leave that to me.

I've made my living from writing now for 42 years and taught journalism for six of those, so I have a pretty good understanding of how the press works. And it's the workings of the press we're concerned with here, much more than the real estate market, itself.