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Knock...Knock.......Who's there ????.............

By
Real Estate Agent with Century 21 Redwood DC-SP98366576

                       

 

Pick any one of these doors. Go through neighborhood after neighborhood in your own hometown. Knock on the door. In over 90% of your visits, you will be greeted by a resident. If you turn around and look over your shoulder, there won't be a sign out front advertising the home for rent and/or sale. This is not a dream, this is a fact. Oh, and yes, the calender does indicate it is late February in 2009.

The amount of people that are still paying their mortgage or their rent on time far exceeds those that can not do so. It is also important to note, those that can not do so include a very, very minute group that chooses not to do so. 

The housing crisis is real.

The solution to the problem is being worked on. Do not let the headlines hide the fact that most people that bought a home are paying for that home...on time. Most people that have rented property are paying their rent on time. If you were to believe the press and the political pundits and the elected officials, you would think that a depression, dust bowl, boarded up towns situation was right around the corner.

 

 

If home ownership were compared to the human body, the current problem would be nothing more than a cut on the finger. Everything else may feel fine but that finger seems to control you. A tiny paper cut reaches out and creates a sharp pain that rivals the loss of a limb. In the grand scheme of things, it is just a tiny cut on the finger.

Possibilities ?

 

  • the cut could become infected, and if not treated could become something far more serious.
  • you could "bump" the finger and the resultant pain might cause you to lose focus.
  • you could spend all your time focusing on the finger and neglect other important things.
  • you might be convinced that there has never been a cut finger like yours and lose focus on history.
  • you might run around showing everyone your cut finger and they would never see your healthy parts.
If the cut finger analogy doesn't resonate, let me put it another way.

      This is a picture of a full crowd at FedEx Field, located just outside Washington, D.C. . The stadium has a capacity to hold over 80,000 people. Now, if everyone in this picture was invited because they owned a home in the D.C. area or because they rented a home in the D.C. area, until everyone of those seats were full, it would look like this.

Now, let's say that everyone that is paying their mortgage and everyone that is paying their rent were asked to leave. After they have all left the building, you have a photographer do a fly over and provide you with a picture of the people that are left, you end up with something that looks like this .....
                                                                               
Oh, the building is certainly not empty. If you look real hard you might see one or two of those people that remained. After all, only about 80,000 people left the building. It is hard to see those that could not leave. It is hard to understand how so few could create the illusion that they were so many.

Emotions run wild...........fears are flamed............it is the end of the world as we know it......all of the sudden it seems like everyone is going under.........every block has several homes for sale......everyone is folding.

It is not true. 

After the great depression had all but destroyed the American spirit.......President Roosevelt introduced a recovery package. The merits of the package will be debated by the highbrows ad infinitum. The facts are obvious...........America recovered. It was not necessarily only the recovery package...there are many that believe the simple truth led the way out of the depression and into the future.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

For sure, this current crisis has grown from within. The reasons are as varied as the differing points of view. One thing is very clear. We did it to ourselves. This crisis was not the result of some foreign nation's attack and it certainly was not the result of any one facet of those involved. Roosevelt's statement from his first inaugural rings true today, but we have to add the Pogo caveat...........

"We've seen the enemy and he is us."


The President's job is to mix both messages and lead us back to prosperity.

While he deals with the problem, we can not lose sight of the fact that all the gloom and all the doom overlook the fact that the vast majority of people that bought homes last year or in 2007 or in 2006 or in 2005 or 2004 and beyond.............are still paying the mortgage they agreed to pay. Most home owners are dealing with the ups and downs of ownership by continuing their lives, going to work, paying bills and enjoying the comfort of Home Sweet Home.

Knock, knock............who's there..................in over 90% of the cases....the American Homeowner.

 

Comments (8)

Jason Sardi
Auto & Home & Life Insurance throughout North Carolina - Charlotte, NC
Your Agent for Life

Mac - "The amount of people that are still paying their mortgage or their rent on time far exceeds those that can not do so."  True that.  And I've always loved Roosevelt's quote regarding the enemy.  The headlines may read, "Unemployment Reaches 12%!" and we may shake our collective heads in dismay.  The fact is though, that means 88% are employed.  Give me journalism or somebody cut off my cable t.v.

Feb 22, 2009 02:53 AM
Richard Iarossi
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Crofton, MD
Crofton MD Real Estate, Annapolis MD Real Estate

John,

Some Economists and Historians of the Roosevelt era conclude that the recovery package he introduced actually delayed the recovery from the depression. I'm not smart enough to know whether it did or not, but at least he did something.

Neither you or I will be around when Historians debate the Obama recovery plan. I do wish he would be a lot more optimistic in his speechs though. The negativity thats coming through right now does not generate a good feeling.

Congratulations to the 90% of us that are doing the right thing. Now, if we could only get the media to concentrate a bit more on that aspect too.

Rich

 

Feb 22, 2009 03:02 AM
Audrey June-Forshey
RE/MAX Realty Services - Darnestown, MD
GRI, Gaithersburg, MD

John, Great post.  I am so sick of all the gloom and doom.  But cheery and happy does't sell newspapers so they have to beat us over the head with the bad. 

I think it is time for the President to start talking now like he was on his campaign trail.  The time for change.  He is there now, quit bitching about the past and let's get on with it.  Let's hear about the good stuff.

 

Feb 22, 2009 03:16 AM
John MacArthur
Century 21 Redwood - Washington, DC
Licensed Maryland/DC Realtor, Metro DC Homes

Jason - Journalism died a painful death when shock value reigned supreme over truth. It may be the way that we prefer to focus on the obscene and rare. I would still prefer that all sides of issues and situations were reported.

Rich - I don't know what historian's will share. I am convinced that history is written by those that win the battle and those that own the printing press.

Those of us with "feet on the ground" are terribly mystified by the press. Home prices are down. Interest rates are low. And yet, people are slow to buy. I understand that credit worthiness is an issue. I understand that having sufficient savings for 3% may be an issue. I think and believe in my heart that the biggest problem is in the message that the pubic perceives.

It is our job and responsibility to get the word out....the country has not gone to hell in a hand basket and overall we are on solid ground. The current problems will be resolved and life will go on.

Feb 22, 2009 03:27 AM
John MacArthur
Century 21 Redwood - Washington, DC
Licensed Maryland/DC Realtor, Metro DC Homes

Audrey - Thanks for checking in. I will not wait for Obama to change his tune. No, if necessary I will be the pied piper for balanced information. I will let others tell of the car broken down with a flat tire while I point out the thousands of tires that continue to function.

 

Feb 22, 2009 05:51 AM
Diane Rice
Rice Prprty Mgmnt & Rlty, LLC, South Holland, IL - Lansing, IL
SFR, SRES, CNC

John!  I am so glad to have caught up with you and your posts!  (Been missing from the Rain a spell)

I just recently re-read some of the comments left on my posts from the past and located YOU!  I so appreciate what you have shared - it reflects the thinking of myself and my husband - we are self-employed and doing well, paying our mortgage and flourishing because we REFUSED to HEAR or BELIEVE what's placed out there in the media!!  (I wrote a post a while back called, "Speaking Real Estate Doom?" ) In it, i pointed out that one can have what they SAY!

It's so refreshing to find you still on AR pouring out words of wisdom!  Please continue to saturate the airwaves here with it... you have an audience and a voice.

Diane Rice

Feb 22, 2009 06:02 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

You wrote:  "This crisis was not the result of some foreign nation's attack"

With that, I disagree completely.  Does anyone not remember the aftermath of the 9/11 attack and the disruption in our financial markets, eventually causing Greenspan to ever lower interest rates to save the stock market and commerce in general?

Those low interest rates caused a housing bubble and opportunistic Wall Street gangs to invest unregularted securities that blanketed the world.

Ergo:  No 9/11 attack, no housing bubble, no Wall Street gangs inventing toxic mortgage instruments. 

 

Feb 22, 2009 08:17 AM
Inna Hardison
ha media group - Orlando, FL
Wordpress for Real Estate & Design, Print HaMedia Group

My Dear J-Mac - it would seem that maybe it is indeed different in each area... Here, there are for sale and rent signs on every other house, depending on the street you're driving.  It really does look rather depressing in my neck of the woods.  I know it will change, if for no other reason than inertia, but that, too, takes time, and a wee bit of the initial momentum.  Here's to hoping we get one. Hugs-

Feb 23, 2009 04:14 PM