Static

The hardest thing for property investors to do today is to make decisions and take action against a background of static from media commentators.

This year we've had an endless stream of negative and sensationalist commentary from economists and journalists.

They've told interest rates would rise, but they haven't.

They've told us our home values would collapse, but they haven't.

They've told us we have the most unaffordable homes on the planet, but the official figures from the reserve bank show that we have nothing of the sort.

We're in a similar situation as we were late in 2008, when they global financial crisis struck.

At that time, the same economists and media commentators told us australia would follow the world into recession. They were wrong.

They told us Australian unemployment would reach 10%, but it didn't even go close to that level.

They told us property values would fall in 2009 by anything up to 40%. But property values rose.

They rose again in 2010, contrary to the persistent forecasts of economists, share market analysts and other talking heads in the media.

If you still need to be convinced that the chattering economists are not worth listening to, consider interest rates.

Since late last year, we have been inundated with daily speculation about the next interest rate rise.

Before every monthly meeting by the board of the reserve bank, economists have lined up to predict that interest rates would rise.

Every scrap of data released by the Australian bureau of statistics has been given an interest rates angle.

One day there will figures showing a major rise in mining investment -- and that, so we're told, means interest rates will rise.

The next day figures will be published telling of a further decline in retail spending, and that apparently means interest rates will not rise.

Then news of worrying signs in the world economy will prompt the same talking heads to predict that interest rates will fall.

A day later, figures will come out describing a rise in inflation. That means interest rates will rise.

Yes, the same commentators who earlier predicted a fall will now be predicting a rise again.

Many commentators stated before the July RBA board meeting that an interest rate rise was certain.

Then they told us rates would rise, for sure, before the august meeting.

The common denominator of all those predictions is that they were all wrong.

The first eight months of the year has failed to deliver a single rate rise. The last was back in November 2010 and that remains the only interest rate rise in the past year and a half.

All that wasted energy and media space on pointless, inaccurate, incompetent speculation.

I have a term to describe all this silly chatter and incompetent forecasting: i call it white noise.

To be successful as property investors, you have tune out the white noise, the background static that clutters up the information channels.

Generally speaking, it's inaccurate poorly-informed prattle from non-experts.

As property investors, you need to ignore it and just get on with business.

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