Real estate, bank officials lead discussion on market at Kennesaw State University

The Marietta Daily Journal

What do two bankers, a real estate agent and a builder have in common?

They're all wondering what it's going to take to get the residential real estate market healthy again, and they were part of a town hall forum on the current banking and housing crises presented by Kennesaw State University's Econometric Center and Small Business Development Center of the Coles College of Business. More than 50 people attended the May 11 forum.

"The reason we brought this together is every recession is created by a bubble bursting, and the economy won't recover until the bubble that burst corrects itself," said Don Sabaresse, director of the Econometric Center.

The four panelists were Robert Braswell, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Bank and Finance; Michael Knowles, president of NorthWest Bank and Trust; Michael Scott, associate broker with Metro Brokers/GMAC Real Estate; and Stephen King, president of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association.

All four discussed how their individual sectors attributed to the crises and what each needs to do to improve the situation. They all lamented the normal way of doing business is not going to improve things, and agreed the volume of people and businesses in trouble has slowed any improvements.