Comments on: Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics: What Mark Twain and Benjamin Disraeli Would Say About Menlo Park’s Median Price Numbers

By: Luke

Luke — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:00:53 +0000

Interesting post – have you updated for the year 2008? I’m sure the story would not be as rosy, but would still be very interesting nonetheless. Please let us know if you intend to share an updated year-on-year comparison. Thanks!

By: ElPalo

ElPalo — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:31:41 +0000

Just came across this blog. 14 months later, now we know the truth. The statistics were right. Things went bust. Spin it, sugar coat it, lie about it anyway you choose, but you cannot escape the fact that you guys have barely sold a higher end home in 6 months.

By: Hawaii Life

Hawaii Life — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:28:51 +0000

Statistics can be interpreted any way you want them to be. Like Andrew, we also have to manage our client’s expectations. Our local publications don’t always paint the best picture using stats.

By: Menlo Park Real Estate Median Prices | 3 Oceans Real Estate, A Boutique Real Estate Brokerage Serving the San Francisco Bay Area

Mon, 05 May 2008 02:20:22 +0000

[...] my earlier rant about how real estate statistics don’t always tell an accurate story, let’s look at what Menlo Park’s numbers seem to indicate for our ongoing robust spring [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:05:06 +0000

Nice post. We constantly have to manage our clients expectations after our local newspapers botch up the statistics to create their “doom and gloom” headlines that helps them sell more newspapers. Basically when someone says “How is the market”. Any educated real estate professional’s response should be, “Well let me check on your neighborhood of interest.”

By: Dave Blockhus

Dave Blockhus — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:36:41 +0000

Kevin,

Great post! We’re seeing a similar trend in Mountain View where prices continue to rise in the neighborhoods with Los Altos Schools. These neighborhoods are also having fewer transactions so (if you were looking from the outside in) the overall real estate picture for Mountain View doesn’t look as good. If you’re buying get those local stats to make sense of what you’re doing. Local, local, local!

By: Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics - Part 2 | 3 Oceans Real Estate, A Boutique Real Estate Brokerage Serving the San Francisco Bay Area

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:35:02 +0000

[...] WordPress.org ← Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics: What Mark Twain and Benjamin Disraeli Would Say About Menlo Park… [...]

By: John Boer

John Boer — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:08:41 +0000

Higher prices are good for whom and bad for whom?

Lower prices are good for whom and bad for whom?

All in all, what is best for the community as a whole?

By: Chris Iverson, Realtor

Chris Iverson, Realtor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:55:44 +0000

Kevin – You make an excellent point, and one that I underscore in my Statistics for Realtors class at Keller Williams. Because of the large variation in property values in geographically similar neighborhoods, and the very low number of data points (sales), the median and mean trendlines and be very misleading.

Your Realtor is the best source for interpreting this data.