Today’s blog goes out as a tribute to John Rebchook, revered real estate writer for the Rocky Mountain News. Like millions of others and now 208 of his fellow newspeople, John has joined the ranks of the unemployed, as Scripps, the parent company for the Rocky shuttered the doors of the 150 year old journal, one more piece of evidence that this country is probably no longer in Kansas.
I didn’t agree with all of Mr. Rebchook’s opinions. He, like many of his ilk, often reported our real estate market as being a half-empty glass, when in fact, it was half-full, and occasionally, his expert REALTOR sources were somewhat questionable with regard to their practice, but I always enjoyed that he was willing to dig deeply in and develop a topic so that practitioners and public, alike, could understand the nature of the Denver real estate market.
I first arrived in Denver in 1988, roughly four years after John began writing about this business publicly, and I remember reading about identical market conditions those 21 years ago. I remember how Denver real estate values had suffered as a result of a sagging petroleum economy and record numbers of foreclosures. I remember the 12-page insert into the Sunday paper chock-full of HUD-owned properties. And I remember reading reports in 1990 that the Denver real estate market was beginning to turn – just as the rest of the country was plummeting!
John Rebchook has seen our market bat for the cycle. He’s been there the whole time as the public’s eye on real estate in the Colorado Front Range. He’s reported the misery suffered by defrauded homeowners stripped of their homes by unscrupulous lenders. He’s reported of Erin Toll’s Eliot Ness-like approach to cleansing the the rooks from the Colorado real estate market. He’s reported of our market lows (a lot), but he was also quick to help his readers recognize when it might be safe to jump into the water.
I’ll miss reading John’s columns as much as I’ll miss reading the Rocky Mountain News, but the media that I am using to communicate my remorse is the cause of their departure. Funny how things change. John, I’ll be watching for your blog.
Posted by: Dave Perlowski
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