I have a new addiction.

Have you guys ever been to the Discussion Forums section of Craigs List? There's a forum in there called "housing." I think I'm totally addicted to it.

You see, it's kinda about mortgages and real estate. I say "kinda" because for every one person with an actual question or good insight into what's going on in the mortgage/RE industry right now, there are 15 crackpots who almost all fall into one of four categories:

1. The "I Wanna Sound Smart" group: these people go to Yahoo!News or CNN or BBCNews and do a search for "mortgage." Then they come up with some lame subject line blurb and repost the link to the page. It might say something like "Realtors are eating Ramen* tonight!" with a link to an article about the decline of housing sales in San Fran. When people ask them questions on their thread, they seldom have an answer. The re-post the stuff that was already discussed earlier the same day. Usually if they get cornered, they turn into category #3.


2. The "Doom and Gloom" group: these folks are usually bitter renters who can't afford a house, so they re-post the negative press about the industry, take it way out of context, and then predict that in less than a year one (or more) of these things will happen - the Fed will take away all brokers and the only place you can get a loan is the government; the housing market will crash and prices will fall anywhere from 50% to 90% of the current values, and then they will buy their own mansion for pennies; the country is going to go into a terrible resession and everyone is going to be poor, except the people who are poor now because they will keep the meager amounts of money they have now while the "fat cats" loose it all; our nation's dollar will so weaken that we will be invaded by Turks/Kurds/Canadians/Chinese/Italians and/or a few other groups.


3. The "Angry" group: watch out! They will resort to personal attacks and slander at the drop of the hat. I think they are mostly people who are mad at whatever shitstorm is currently on the news and latch on with a vengence. They can be funny, if you can keep from getting pissed when you attack you. You can learn some cool insults (like asshat) for later use, but be cautious not to use them in the Forums or people will think you are a member of this group.


4. The "Head in the Sand" group: who believe this current market is ONLY in the media and isn't going on anywhere in the US right now. These people can be dangerous because some of them sound really smart, and the few people really asking questions can get duped into thinking they really know what they are talking about.

Sometimes I get in the Forum and simply answer questions. Other times I go in simply intending to debunk the people who have misinformation in a firm, but reasonable way. A few times I go in to totally tear up the asshats that fall into most of the above categories. It's kinda fun because there is a 5th group that's much harder to see: The "We Actually Know What We Are Talking About" group. That's me and a handful of other regular posters who jump in and out at random. There is an unspoken society among us WAKWWATA's that isn't easily observed until you spend some time in the Forum.

I have actually got some really good real-world contacts as well. I've hooked up with a realtor in Boston who wants to team up for some business. I'm talking to three people who may need my services on a personal level. It's kinda cool.

So there you go. Be careful with the Open Discussion Forums: they can suck you in pretty fast.