Real Estate. The ultimate purchase. Designers handbags are a status symbol amoung successful women. With so many working women choosing to marry later, and establish their careers first, it is no surprise they make up 18% of today's buyers. In working with these women, is image everything? Is what you carry definitive of how successful you are?
Look around. The chances are you can on any given day see the average woman at the grocery store, dry cleaners, gym, or at school and on her arm will be a "Brand Name" designer handbag. Last year it was a sea of brown LV's. This year it is Coach. Back it in the 80's it was Gucci and in the 90's it was Fendi. On college campuses the Generation X crowd has rediscovered Chanel.
Buyers today are holding onto their wallets tighter than ever before when it comes to the Ultimate purchase. So are lenders. I recently worked with a family from out of state. They drove a Mercedes. The wife and teenage daughter were designer decorated from head to toe. Like alphabet soup of designer duds. G&B, and the "must have" LV, CC sunglasses, you name it they had it on. They spent the day looking at high end homes. What I found even more interesting was the way they sized up the closets. Not literally. Figuratively. They commented on what the closet contents were. We saw several very nice homes that day. The one they liked the best had the best designer clothes and shoes in it. Did that suggest to them, the owner was a perceived equal? I wonder.
You cannot judge a book by its coveralls. A home which really went under foreclosure had a plethera of plastic purchases in designer accessories. You "name" it, they had it. But it was all smoke and mirrors. They were in so deep, they will never see the light of day. It was all about image.
Some of the wealthiest people I know look like don't have a dime. Old money was not about flaunting it. That was for the "Neuvo Riche" and quite surprisingly, their houses were not the biggest either. They looked long term.
Three years ago, average everyday folks were drawn into risky Real Estate deals, teaser rates, interest only packages, and homes much larger than they could afford. Today, they are wondering how to pay for it all. When working with the public take a long term approach. There are some amazingly low priced executive homes available. This represents good buys for savy consumers.
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