'A Good Steady Market'
In case you missed the announcement today in Real Estate, because of reductions in staff and space, the Sunday Real Estate section has printed its final edition.
Real estate coverage will continue to appear online throughout the week. Hot Property, Neighborly Advice and the occasional Pardon Our Dust remodeling tale will appear in print as part of the new Saturday Home section. Home of the Week, Southland home-price charts and other features will appear in Sunday Business. Real estate articles will appear in both sections.
There's a journalism term for finishing an edition's work: You put the section to bed. When I started as a part-timer in this department 28 1/2 years ago under then-editor Dick Turpin, I never dreamed that one day I'd be putting the section to bed for good.
It has been an honor and a joy to serve readers for the last eight years as editor of a section that started in 1901, according to The Times official chronology. Under the headline, "A Good Steady Market," the tone then was optimistic:
"While there is nothing that could even by courtesy be called a boom in real estate just now, yet 10 years ago we should certainly have characterized the present condition of the market by that name."
Ah, for a good, steady market.
If you'd like to share your views, contact readers.rep@latimes.com; call (877) 554-4000 or fax (213) 237-3535.
-- Lauren Beale, Real Estate editor
Photo: Real Estate editor Dick Turpin oversees fledgling reporter Lauren Beale, the current Times Real Estate editor, in 1982. At right, the late Lou Desser, news and makeup editor.
"While there is nothing that could even by courtesy be called a boom in RE just now, yet 10yrs ago we should have certainly have characterized the present condition of the market by that name."
How about KAboom ? that would've been more like our current condition
Posted by: Nelcisco | July 28, 2008 at 01:38 PM
What's the purpose of diverting readers from the Printed matter to an online blog? Makes no sense at all. Lauren Beale, contrary to what an anon person wrote elsewhere in the comments section; does a excellent job, especially given what she's had to put up with. The Real Estate section is much much better than what Barnes did to it with the fluff pieces. Its now so very interesting. Just because many of us don't write or call for one reason or another we are unable to, don't take our silence to mean we are not paying attention. That would be a grave mistake. With all the turmoil at the Times how can anyone be expected to do what they are good at!
Posted by: MartinB | July 28, 2008 at 03:33 PM
The success of The Times will not depend on which sections remain standing and which cease (that's economics, so all you non-business-oriented, one-trick pony journalists, wake up to the real world), but how often you change the content on your Web site. Take a look at espn.com and yahoo.com: they change the content on their sites every few minutes. We live in a fast-paced, changing world. If you think placing stories that appear in the same day's paper and leaving them there all day is fresh, then I have some day-old bagels to sell to you at full-price.
Posted by: Paul Williams | July 28, 2008 at 05:12 PM
goodbye la times, hello sf chronicle-style coverage. pretty soon i'll be able to see through the paper because it will be translucent.
bring back the herald examiner!
Posted by: jef | July 28, 2008 at 08:28 PM
The Times is making appearances that they are getting rid of the "fluff" sections, but really, those sections were the revenue generators. They are majorly downsizing the paper, and if you believe they are going to cut the revenue generators but keep the hard news and journalism which generates 0 revenue, I have some Westside property I'de like to sell you. The fluff is going to be placed in the main paper sections, and the stories in the main paper sections will disappear amongst the fluff, and then they are hoping that you will actually buy the paper with 2-3 pages of content in the Front section, Local, and Sports. If you have ever read a San Francisco paper, you are going to know what the LA Times is going to look like: trash. And then Zell will sell it in the time between it is generating similar revenue with lower costs and before it tanks because it is not worth reading any more. Great business plan, screw the reader and destroy the only great West Coast newspaper.
How do we fire Zell?
Posted by: Crash and Burn | July 28, 2008 at 09:53 PM
Why would a buyer waste their time searching for property in a newspaper in todays world? Online search provides a large assortment of pictures, slide shows, video tours, and the ability to shop from your home without having to trudge around all weekend through open houses. Buyers can pick and choose which homes they want to see based on actual appeal.
Posted by: Laurie Manny | July 29, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Real Estate is very fuild, newspapers are not. They can't provide the information buyers and sellers need and I think the Times has made the right decision in getting out of the real estate promotion buisness.
Face it 90% of the Real Estate advertisments are just lost leader advertising that doesn't work anymore. Buyers and Seller are far more educated today to deal with picture of properties that do not have addresses and better yet phone numbers to agents who do return calls.
Ted Mackel
Keller Williams Realty
www.homebuysblog.com
Posted by: Ted Mackel | August 03, 2008 at 02:24 PM
Although I now reside in WV, I'm an old California boy and read the Times often even though I lived in San Diego. It's sad to see how the real estate crash is affecting so many people in the newspaper business. Prior to ERA Real Estate, I worked for nearly 9 years in newspaper advertising and things were getting tough even before the current mess. I now handle marketing and IT for the largest ERA affiliate in the state, and I got out of newspaper advertising soon after coming on board. Rates were too high and the local papers' circulation bases have all shrunk by 30-50%. Best to spend that $$ elsewhere, I decided. We still advertise in the area magazines but the focus of most of our advertising is TV and the Web.
Posted by: Don Zeigler | August 05, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Wow...not a shock though. If you are not addressing the power of the Internet then you better get going. Upwards of 70-80% of customers are starting their search online. I can not imagine these days going in front of a client for a listing presentation and not having a true command of the Internet and how to market via the Internet. If you are looking for real estate in Santa Barbara or Montecito CA., visit www.santabarbararealestatevoice.com
Posted by: Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice | August 11, 2008 at 03:39 PM
As a person in the business, I have mixed opinions. The advertising, the worst part... including the "storyads"... which are insulting to those who can see clearly that it is advertising - glad it won't have a "section"... but I'm sure it won't go away. The rest of the section... what little was left - was worthwhile.
Posted by: Jim | October 21, 2008 at 11:46 AM