So heres the thing about real estate. People love *love* to think theyre in the know; shopping in all forms has become an informed process for consumers - were in the first age of consumers that can and do arm themselves with a myriad of data from different sources. When it comes to real estate in particular, speculation is and always will be *rampant.* Everyone wants to be *that* guy - that saw the bubble coming (sigh), that knew prices would rise/fall, that saved themselves from the abject horror of selling too soon or buying too high. People ask me *daily* - Stacey, when is the best time to buy/sell real estate. My answer is, and always will be - today. Why? There is never a *bad* time to do good real estate. There will always be good buys on the market - FSBO (for sale by owner) that price too low, sellers that need the property moved for any one of a million reasons, location isnt optimal, work needs to be done - etc etc etc. Conversely, if you are looking to sell, there will *always* be a buyer for a property thats priced appropriately. Always. People do not stop moving, growing, marrying, divorcing - living. What does *not* exist is people (and banks) that will pay $20,000 too much for a property because the previous owners loved it. Or someone who has finally made enough money so they will sell it at $50,000 under market because theyre benevolent. I read a post a few weeks back from this very angry economics student at the UofR, accusing realtors from everything to market inflation, cost of living and the impossibility of getting in to the property market. Apparently he missed the segment on wages; increasing minimum wage increases cash flow which increases demand which in turn increases prices. Is it hard to get in to the property market? NOT at all. Does it require one to postpone the new car, the new flatscreen tv, the vacation to Aruba? Probably, yup! I talked to a 28 year old man, who was sitting on the hood of his $30,000 car, bemoaning the state of the economy and the unfairness of banks and the absolute criminal way a realtor will get the most $ out of a property for his/her seller. I said to him, smiling - you realize youre sitting on the hood of your new house, dont you? That $550 car payment/month not only reduces your borrowing power on a mortgage by a whopping $550, but its also decreasing in value daily. Had you waited one year, put that money aside and STOPPED SPENDING, you would be walking into your new house right now, with a stable mortgage payment that wont go up every 6 months, equity gains of about 10%/year, and the security of actually owning vs renting. He looked at me like Id asked to borrow his kidney for lunch. What?! NOT drive a status symbol?! What?? There must be a generation gap! This old lady is insane! The point to the story people is that look carefully at the source of the insider information. Do they *really* know what the market is doing - what the mortgage rates are doing? If not, take it with a grain of salt, like you did the absolute plethora of breast feeding/bottle feeding tips from the billion strangers who stopped you after you had your first baby. And then go sit with your realtor, have a cup of coffee, and talk about the actives vs solds in the market, and how that applies to you. Have a great Wednesday people :)
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 16:09:12 +0000
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