The following message was posted to the housing forum of CraigsList in Boston, hoping to get some feedback on a proposal to host an educational seminar to discuss the real estate bubble. Instead of getting intelligent feedback on the merits of a potential monthly series, I got flamed for spamming and the post was abruptly removed. The proposed monthly meeting has the genuine intent of informing and protecting real estate consumer during a time of great economic uncertainty and heated debate among economists, including Alan Greenspan, about when the bubble will peak.
With Boston.com reporting that traffic on their real estate section surpassed 7 million pageviews for the first time in March 2005 and more than 1 million homes-for-sale searches, isn’t it fair to ask if consumers should think twice before rushing into an overheated housing market and to give them a forum — online and off — to learn more about the risks and benefits of buying in a real estate bubble?
To dismiss that question as spam seems to have been a disservice to CraigsList users. If, on the other hand, my original post below inadvertently crossed the line between posting comments / content and spam, I apologize to Craig Newmark (shown in the cartoon above) and his readers and thank them for clarifying the boundaries of acceptable behavior for this Newbie. Banned or not on CraigsList’, we’d like to know what you think about hosting the educational seminar or monthly series of "Bubble Hours" described below.
Bubble Hour: Monthly meeting to discuss
As a real estate consultant and newcomer to CraigsList forums, I was pleased to find considerable debate about the real estate bubble, enough that one post last year asked, “Can the RE Bubble have its own forum….PLEASE??”
Would anyone, particularly would be home buyers or sellers, be interest in attending a one time seminar, or if worthwhile a monthly meeting, to discuss the real estate bubble in person and hear a featured speaker?
I have tentatively lined up a room at a centrally located hotel on Route 128 for the evening of May 5th. If you are interested in attending, please contact me offline at recafe@mac.com
Regardless of your interest in attending an experimental meeting, readers are invited to visit The Real Estate Cafe’s blog to discuss the real estate bubble, learn how to save money in real estate transactions, get information on FSBO seminars, and a variety of other topics:
realestatecafe.blogs.com/real_estate_bubble/
Should be interesting to hear what Alan Greenspan says today, particularly following the articles in the Boston Herald on April 19.
Bill Wendel, Founder
The Real Estate Cafe
Cambridge, MA
617-661-4046
recafe@mac.com
www.realestatecafe.com
realestatecafe.blogs.com
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