New homeowners
By Bradley Inman, Tuesday, September 23, 2008.Bookmarking Sites
My daughter Liz and her husband Phil closed on a house last week, as Wall Street melted down. We had a house warming party Sunday night and throughout the weekend the neighbors stopped by to welcome them to the neighborhood. Phil and Liz saved to buy the house and discussed how they must watch their spending, but that is OK because they love the little two-bedroom home.
That is how it works, nothing more and nothing less.
I recently heard about a big real estate brokerage owner who was selling his house and going to rent. He often rants about buyers not realizing it is a good time to buy.
That is why things don't work.
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Submitted by Shannon Ziccardi on September 23, 2008 - 9:44am.
I'm quite often accused of being naive in my commentary as I try to encourage consumer confidence with a "glass is half-full" sort of outlook...even with the events of late. I fully recognize that things are difficult right now. I do believe however, that the solution rests with consumer confidence being high v.s. giving in and subscribing to widespread doom and gloom.
Keep your chins up out there!
"A Quick Note"
www.aquicknote.net
Submitted by Ellen Gershowitz on September 24, 2008 - 5:01am.
I could not agree more! What a beautiful story that people are still falling in love with a home. If only more people could look at a home purchase this way, we would not have to worry about the market!
Submitted by Besnette David on September 24, 2008 - 7:42am.
It's amazing that a year ago, in my neighborhood, there were "for sale" signs about every 3 houses. Now, there's not a single one.
I went thru the buying/selling process for the 2nd time last August, and it was quite a different experience than it was during the 'boom' of 6 years ago. I have great credit and had a good down payment, but still went through the ringer with the mortgage company - and I was ok with that. I appreciated that they were actually being careful with me to protect their own interests..and mine.
David
www.canadarentals.net
Submitted by Wenceslao Fernandez Jr on September 24, 2008 - 10:08pm.
Tis true that many, thinking of themselves first, contributed to this fiasco. However, I also feel optimistic and that the measures being taken are a strong signal of a bottom the moguls like Mitsubishi and Warren Buffet are using as their signal to get off the fence, find a bargain (as they both did), and put their money where their mouth is.
After all, it is Buffet that believes in finding buying opportunities when others are gloomy.
Real estate buyers who are on the fence still, should come out as soon as the credit markets are untangled. This is (in my opinion) the bottom we've been looking for. This is the first stage of it, albeit still having to go through huge inventories of distressed properties before we can begin to see some sort of recovery.
Even if prices drop some more, as all market experts will tell you (including Warren Buffet with his very actions to the tune of $5Billion), housing is a long-term investment. Buying today to dread seeing a neighbor buy a similar (but not identical) house for $10k less, is no sign of having made a bad puchase or one that would not yield a better value in a few years.
www.MiamiRealEstateKing.com
Certified Distressed Property Expert
Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Submitted by bob jones on September 30, 2008 - 12:47pm.
"After all, it is Buffet that believes in finding buying opportunities when others are gloomy."
Yeah, who'd imagine that a multi-billionaire would risk amounts of money in real estate that's mere chump change to him. I guess we all should make financial gambles too.
"This is (in my opinion) the bottom we've been looking for. This is the first stage of it, albeit still having to go through huge inventories of distressed properties before we can begin to see some sort of recovery."
This is not the bottom, not even close. You have no idea what you're talking about. There is a massive flux of shadow inventory that's going to be dumped on the market. This is the quiet before the storm. Idiotic baseless proclamations of being "at or near the bottom" have emanated from "industry experts" since things started to turn negative. It's as if the only people getting it right are the ones NOT working in the industry. Hmmmm... wonder why.