I've worked so hard to surround myself with positive knowledge people, I've had my head in the sand. Seems there are a number of writers in the blogosphere that have an opinion about the real estate market, and are playing much better chicken littles than most of the media I've read.
- For example, take Keith from Housing Panic. I don't know much about Keith who owns this blog, but in his profile he states he's in the Marketing industry. Not an economist, Not in real estate.
- And did you know, there's an entire blog devoted to David Lereah, NAR's chief economist?
- Wikipedia has an article on the housing bubble
- Even business week online has jumped on the bandwagon.
After doing some reading this morning I've come to a conclusion.
I live on a different planet. On my planet I have had more transaction sides in the last month than I did the last three. On my planet there is some flattening of prices, and clearly a slowdown on the horizon, but on my planet we expect that in the winter in Minnesota. However, Realtors on my planet still work through the holiday months, because people still buy and sell through the holiday months. On my planet there is recognition that this is a tough market, sellers do have to sell at the bottom of their price range, but there is still a recognition that purchasing a house is a good investment; not entirely without risk, but a good investment. On one of the blogs (other planets) I visited this morning a commenter said "thank God I haven't purchased and continue to rent." No one on that planet told him that if you don't have to sell, it's a great time to buy.
Now I'm not an economist, and I don't have a crystal ball, but I can tell you no one will be able to predict what will happen with the market in Minnesota until about February because our market does flatten. We are Minnesotans. We hibernate. Until then, I will close a record number of transactions between now and December for my business, and refrain from projecting any negativity.
Comments(6)