I'm a bit of a news junkie.

I read the newspaper in the morning and troll a few websites during the day for different articles. Like many others, more and more of my news comes from online these days. Frequently, I'll see the exact same article on multiple sites and I know that they just picked it up off of some newswire. Other times you see the same idea, but slightly different details.

Today, I stumbled into a great example of this.

I shouldn't be surprised, but I  am.

Check out the lead paragraph of this article "After falling for six straight months, sales of existing homes posted an unexpected increase in February which may have reflected more aggressive price cutting by sellers in some parts of the country, a real estate group reported."

Now, check out the lead paragraph of this article "A record plunge in prices of existing homes produced only a modest increase in sales in February, according to the latest reading on the battered housing market by an industry trade group released Monday."

It's the same information with a completely different intent. The first paragraph, courtesy of Martin Crutsinger and the AP at Excite.com, tells a positive story. The second paragraph, courtesy of David Goldman at CNNMoney.com, is all about panic, fear and doom.

Why the difference? Well, you can be sure one sells better than the other.

It also goes to a belief  and continual frustration of mine that the media talks us into these problems. They don't do it  on purpose. I don't go for conspiracies. But, I do think that with the first hint of one piece of bad news they all jump on it and pretty soon we have a confidence problem that feeds on itself.

I like to see the positive int he first story. It reinforces so many positives. The biggest of which is that this is a great time to buy. If you are thinking about a new house, getting out of a rental to owning your own home, moving up, or otherwise looking to buy... this is the time to do it.

-Chris