Housing: Don't Read Too Much ... Or At Least Don't Believe All of It ... from Ocean City, New Jersey
I would be less than honest if I didn't also say that you shouldn't believe everything that I have written as well ... but at least I have so warned you. Much of my thinking about things comes from reading newspapers and magazines and books where I copy notes in my journal, tear pages from my own magazines, etc. I then try to motivate my own thinking to reflect some of the thoughts from interesting articles ... which could be articles that I do, or do not, agree with in many ways.
The recent TIME (9/6/2010) Cover Story: "Rethinking Home Ownership" was one such interesting article with the second one being a short page by Zachary Karabell entitled: "The Two Jobs Reports - One, from the government, generates anxiety. The other, from Apple, evokes optimism. Both are true."
When TIME suggests: "Why owning a home may no longer make economic sense," I reflect that almost all the meager wealth that I have accumulated in my life has come from paying off homes. Indeed, it was our way of saving. But I also reflect on our son and his wife in California and realize that the 30+% drop, or more, on their first home purchase may never be recovered ... and the reality of their position would be that they should move on ... even though they can afford to pay for the property.
Finally, being a resort and second home and retirement home real estate agent on a small South Jersey island, Ocean City (NJ), I question the TIME article more and more. But when I reread "The two Jobs Report," it became just a bit clearer for me. Both reports are true ... they suggest lots of problems for many in our country, but they also indicate that many others in our country continue to do well As Karabell writes: "they may share an anxiety about the future with the millions of unemployed and underemployed, but they do not experience the same material hardships."
Now he may be describing our son and his wife who live very well, have great jobs, make a lot of money, do have some anxiety about the future ... but they are so much better off than many across the country. Back to Karabell: "How come? Because we live in a world where the idea of a common, shared economic experience is largely a fiction. The two jobs reports can be completely contradictory and true because they represent the behavior and situation of radically different groups."
And now back to our resort community housing situation: I deal with a public (buyers and sellers) who can afford a second property. In our market which has struggled along since 2006, I had my best year during the first six months since 2006 ... even taking off for the summer due to recovery from bypass surgery. How did this happen (not the surgery but the good market)? Because very slowly during the past four years, the Ocean City (NJ) market made ever so slight recoveries ... the condominium market still has a way to go, but it continues to improve. The single home market on the high side is very slow ... but slowly everything else gets higher. Does that mean a return to the early 2000s?
But it's fall again ... the national economic news has been deadly each fall for the past few years. The national housing report ... never. All real estate is "local," and on our little island in South Jersey, I continue to expect a good fall season. But don't believe everything you read. dap
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