What Now

Sometimes, after reading a jillion articles about real estate and business, my eyes glaze over and my mind turns to mush. What does all of the information mean? Should we all pack up and run for the hills, mortgage be damned? Should I just give my house away now before it just gets worse?

I'm going out on a limb here but I believe things will slowly improve everywhere. Some places went absolutely nuts with over-building and soaring property values not as much here as in southern Florida. Still, we've got folks caught in the crossfire here, too. But, as with all things, there are extreme variances from one county to the next. In our area, the past 3 months have shown positive data in sales of existing homes, albeit at a much reduced price from even a year ago. New homes are not faring so well but that is also understandable since we had way too many to begin with and most of them are standing empty still.

If you need to buy a house, or just feel ready to buy, then now is certainly the time to find some choice pieces of property at an undervalued price. Should you be careful not to buy too much for your income - absolutely. I'd be courting first time buyers heavily now if I were a sales agent. Nothing to sell and generally dual income, no kids buyers who are in a game where they hold all the cards. It's hard to know what will happen next but one piece of age-old advice still holds, "Buy low, sell high" and now would certainly be the time to buy homes and stocks if you plan to stick it out and hang on until this all gets better.

Just rambling on...
gchmama