There seems to be a growing trend in the media these days, to talk about things during news hours that don't fit my definition of news. Here's an easy illustration. Next Sunday turn on Meet the press, This Week With George Stephanopolis, or a myriad of other news shows.
The first half hour is pretty much news, meaning they interview people making news. But lately in the second half of the program they have what they proudly call a political round table. These are reporters who spend their time talking about what they think is happening in the political arena. And to me, that isn't news. And that is the point in the show when I tell my TiVo to dump the episode.
The same thing happens all too often in real estate, though it is harder to see. People talk about what they think, to the point that more and more people believe they are getting news. What they react to is often opinion, and all too often, uniformed opinion to boot. As a result, what we often experience are self-fulfilling prophecies. They say the market is bad, we stay out of the market, the market is bad. Would it have been bad if we had not stayed out of the market?
There are some great opportunities out there and buyers especially need to take a hard look at the market and their position. People in the industry (The National Association of Realtors, The National Association of Home Builders, and others) are projecting recovery of home sales in the second or third quarter. If you are a potential home buyer, think about what that could mean to you. Better in this sound bite means higher home prices, fewer homes in the inventory and sellers being closer to the seat of power in the transaction. By the time you hear that things are better, you might be paying higher prices and having less to choose from.
If you believe we are headed for a recession, you can count on higher interest rates that may also keep you out of the market. If you fear that our economy is headed for something worse than recession, then perhaps you should wait. But don't wait for interest rates to get a lot better. They are fantastic at the moment!
Al "Top" Stickland
www.TALKtoTOP.com
;)
Links;)
Tags (Tag Cloud);)
Archives
Good point Al. The buyers who are sitting on the fence waiting for a signal to jump should realize that this signal means higher prices and interest rate hikes.
Sandy