I am hyper-alert to news about real estate. When some piece of news comes out and talks about real estate, my ears tend to perk up. Recently I(and you) am constantly being bombarded with what I feel is doom and gloom about real estate. Nine times out of ten, I can pick the story apart before they even get to the end of it…
I live in Indianapolis, and we were rated #1 least over-priced major city in the country. I want to say that was in a Fortune or CNN Money Article.. I was sure I had blogged about it before, with linky goodness, but cant find the article now… Regardless, my point is, we are constantly being given facts that the market is horrible. Yet when you listen/read to the full article, you can hear that most of the data is pertinent to other parts of the country which are having problems….
I am not trying to bad mouth certain parts of the country, but I almost moved to the san francisco bay area, and I just couldnt understand how someone making 30k a year could live in a $1600.00 a month studio apartment, until I found out he had room mates.. hehe San francisco is great, I loved it, but I decided I didnt want to be house poor, so I didnt take the job. I can easily see how that area could be having some serious price shifting. Correct me if I am wrong, I pay more attention to the midwest pricing.. hehe
This is a pretty detailed example, but it gets to what I am talking about.. You have to look at the facts, and not skim read and assume…. It’s like a neighborhood I went to look at yesterday for a listing appointment. This neighborhood sells 12 homes a year. The homes range in price from $209,000 – 745,000. Can you already see a problem when it comes time to average out a price to sell your home for? The average sale price for a 4 bedroom home was 376k, but when you look, the cheapest 4 bedroom was 250k and the most expensive was 509k.. WHAT?!?!?!? No wonder the averages are screwed up.. When it boils down to it, I actually only find 3 of those 12 properties that are worth using as a comparison.. so now we are down to 3 homes sell a year, and it’s no wonder this house has been on the market for a while..
Sorry for the mumbo jumbo… Basically, PERCEIVE the news for what it is… Understand that people(reporters) can be biased, and headlines sell papers… It’s like a car accident you just cant turn away from.. Doom and Gloom sells!! hehe READ the articles, and dont put a lot of faith in the headline… I know I know.. tough to do, and we all have the best intentions and are always in a hurry.. hehe
Houses are always going to be selling.. People get relocated, people downsize, people just get tired of living where they are living… Do you remember when interest rates on mortgages were 10+%, and you had to pay massive amounts of points($$$$$) to buy or sell a home? I barely do, but people were buying and selling then…. This is a great time to buy.. DO YOUR HOMEWORK, or have your agent do their homework, and you will be ok!
Like some of the information I write(or shamelessly steal) and want to donate to the cause? Have a friend or family member looking to buy, sell, or invest in real estate? Then refer them to me. Even if you are in another state, I can find a good real estate agent to help them and I might get a referral fee! Free to them, and I might get to put food on the ole table and fatten my kid up!
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