Biz journalists missing the story behind sluggish real estate sales

Hal Morris, writing on his Grumpy Editor blog, advises business journalists to get out and talk to bankers about the drop in home sales to get the story behind the story.

Morris writes, “When potential buyers cannot obtain home loans, then the housing market continues to sink, dragging down the economy further.

“Following recent bailouts of key banks, alert business editors around the country should uncover some interesting quotes on why stagnant home loan activity continues in their circulation areas by contacting a half dozen financial institutions, including major operations such as Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo.

“Sure, some regional executives of nationwide institutions will be tight-lipped on the subject, referring inquiries to headquarters.  And chances are that headquarters won’t return calls.  But this will highlight — for stories — the difficulties in getting straight answers from their ‘friendly’ financial institutions, especially after bailouts that involved taxpayer money.”

Read more here.