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Are We? Aren’t We? Will We? Won’t We?
The questions keep coming …
“Are we in a recession?” “Aren’t we expected to make a lowball offer?” “Will we get our money back if we sell in two years?” “Won’t we make $100000 on this flip in just two months like they do on TV?”
Okay, so maybe I haven’t gotten that last question - at least not phrased like that - but everything else is verbatim. Plenty of mixed signals floating around about the real estate market, and it’s understandable that people have questions.
Making matters worse, Scott Rogers posted links to posts entitled “The Recession That Never Was Is Now Over“, and “Is Housing Slump At A Bottom?“. I point these out not because I think Scott shouldn’t have posted them, I just think that both posts make strong arguments to at least make you consider that perhaps times they are a changin’. For instance, the post “Is Housing Slump At A Bottom” makes the argument that new housing starts slumped below the one million mark in March. Historically, every time that’s happened in the last 50 years, it’s been at the bottom of a recession. It’s hard to argue with history - as a friend of mine says, “hindsight is 40/40″. Yea, she’s like me, she was never good with numbers.
I do think there are concerns that need to be addressed. Dependence on foreign oil, uncertainty overseas, among other things, compounded by a constant barrage of negativity and fear in the mainstream consciousness, have people scared. These things need to be addressed in order to begin an upswing in confidence, IMO.
One thing I DON’T understand is how we hear about massive layoffs in industries like auto and manufacturing, yet GDP is up. Wouldn’t conventional wisdom say that by laying off in massive quantities, and exporting goods and jobs out of the country, that GDP would go DOWN? In the last three years, Volvo has announced layoffs of 1000, 650 and 1100 personnel in their Dublin, VA factory, for instance - incidentally, it’s the largest truck manufacturing facility in the world. I’ve got to imagine that production in the plant slowed down accordingly, not increased … I didn’t do well in Economics, for sure, but what am I missing here?
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>> Making matters worse, Scott Rogers posted links to posts entitled “The Recession That Never Was Is Now Over“, and “Is Housing Slump At A Bottom?“.
That Scott Rogers — you have to watch him carefully! :)
Jeremy — the second article was actually from someone else’s blog — though I did have a second “making matters worse” post entitled ‘Wall Street Journal: “The Housing Crisis Is Over”‘. :)
>> I do think there are concerns that need to be addressed. Dependence on foreign oil, uncertainty overseas, among other things, compounded by a constant barrage of negativity and fear in the mainstream consciousness, have people scared. These things need to be addressed in order to begin an upswing in confidence, IMO.
Who needs to address the issues of foreign oil and uncertainty overseas, etc? Our nation? The government? NAR? :)
Great insight. Right on point. There are a lot of questions and a lot of concerns about what’s going on with the gov, war, nation, jobs and etc that are all having effect on the housing market.
You just figure out what is working right now in your market and work it.
Even if we are in recession, great or small, it matters ,but we still need to work. We still need to prospect. We still need to sell. I guess my question is, why is this important for us to discuses as agents on VAR Buzz? I’m not trying to be a jerk. I’m truly asking, as agents, why is it so important to know?