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If Grandma Had Listened to These Folkes - My Inheritance Would Be Gone

By
Real Estate Agent with The Adam and Eric Group 01499486

For the Past 60 years, economists, Wall Street Analysts, and other supposed financial experts have predicted the end of Real Estate Appreciation.  Take a quick trip through their far-off-the-mark forecast from years gone by:

  • "The prices of houses seem to have reached a plateau, and there is reasonable expectancy that prices will decline." (Time, December 1, 1947)
  • "Houses cost too much for the mass market. Today's average price is around $8,000... out of reach for two-thirds of all buyers." (Science Digest, April 1948)
  • "The goal of owning a home seems to be getting beyond the reach of more and more Americans. The typical new house today costs $28,000." (Business Week, September 4, 1969)
  • "The era of easy profits in real estate may be drawing to a close," (Money, January 1961)
  •  "Most economists agree... [a home] will become little more than a roof and a tax deduction, certainly not the lucrative investment it was through much of the 1980s." (Money, April 1986)
  • "The baby boomers are all housed now. They are being followed by the baby bust. By 2005, real housing prices will sit 40 percent below where they are today." (Harvard economist Gregory Mankiw, "The Baby Boom, the Baby Bust, and the Coming Collapse of Housing Prices," Journal of Regional Economics, Fall 1989)
  • "A home is where the bad investment is... (San Francisco Examiner, November 17, 1996)
  • "But the real question is, how will [housing prices] look longer term? As I've said in the past, I do not think that housing values will be higher live to ten years from now." (Yale economist Robert Shiller, quoted in Newsweek, January 27, 2005)

I love the media - Don't you.

 

 

Adam Brett
RE/MAX NOC
Fullerton, CA
714.496.8116
800.977.ADAM
realtoradam@gmail.com
www.realtoradam.com
http://activerain.com/realtoradam

 

Comments (11)

Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Adam... I did listen to these experts and I have horror stories to tell that would curl your hair. I wish I would have listened to your grandmother after the sale of my last company in August of 1999. Instead, I invested in tech stocks. You can do the math. :)
Aug 20, 2007 04:53 PM
Adam Brett
The Adam and Eric Group - Fullerton, CA
The Adam and Eric Group, Fullerton's Finest
Sorry to hear that Jeff.  Hindsight is definitely 20/20.
Aug 20, 2007 04:55 PM
Rick Turner
Key Realty - Toledo, OH
Puts People In Their Places!!

Adam,

As long as people are making babies, there will a demand for homes!  I had a conversation with a 1st time buyer not long ago and he was like chicken little.  We are seeing a lull in the market, how long, who knows, but people need a place to live.  It is our job to help them make an informed decision based on current conditions, if we do that, we will stay in the biz! 

Aug 20, 2007 05:00 PM
Dawn Workman
Veracity Real Estate Group, LLC - Camas, WA
Camas Real Estate Expert, MBA, 480-540-8100
I love it!  Thanks for sharing I want to print it and show it to my sad home owners. 
Aug 20, 2007 05:14 PM
Lynda Eisenmann
Preferred Home Brokers - Brea, CA
Broker Associate ,CRS,GRI,SRES, Brea,CA, Orange Co

Adam,

An inheritance??? Good thing Grandma doesn't know about a reverse mortgage!  

LOL, sorry I coudn't resist. and you're so right on this one. We could all ask ourselves, what would real estate be like 10 years from now?

Aug 20, 2007 05:20 PM
delete me delete me
delete me - Dixon, CA
Hey these are the same people that said personal computers would never exist because they'd take up to much space...
Aug 20, 2007 05:48 PM
James Gordon
Sibcy Cline Realtors® - Cincinnati, OH
REALTOR, PBD SFR SRS
We still need to see if Shiller's prediction comes true. It looks like it is on its way to a start.
Aug 20, 2007 10:00 PM
Linda Reynolds
Bradenton Real Estate - Linda Reynolds - Bradenton, FL
Bradenton Real Estate
This goes to show us that this business runs in cycles and sooner or later it will come back and move forward.  It is just in a correcting state right now.
Aug 20, 2007 11:21 PM
Adam Brett
The Adam and Eric Group - Fullerton, CA
The Adam and Eric Group, Fullerton's Finest
The business definitely runs in cycles, but our clients memories are very short.  We need to remind them every market has its opportunities.
Aug 22, 2007 04:29 PM
Karen Anne Stone
New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Real Estate
This might be a silly response, but the former Junior High School teacher in me is making me do it !  In your headline, you spelled the word "Folkes" wrong.  It is spelled "Folks."  LOL
Aug 23, 2007 01:39 AM
Rosemary Brooks
BMC Real Estate - 209-910-3706 - Stockton, CA
The Mother & Daughter Realty Team
Grandma's know!  I know I am a grandma and I can't get my messages across to the ones I love, so I'm just about to say "OK you win, do it your way".  And that is how we get in trouble not listening to wisdom.  Good for your granny - she was smart and lucky you.
Aug 25, 2007 07:02 PM