I am asked at least several times a week, "How are you doing...how's the market?". People often whisper the question while grasping my arm and and staring into my eyes intently. They seem almost certain that because I'm a realtor I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown, that my family is living on top ramen and that the family dog is headed for the soup pot (our one year old lab is in danger of ending up on the menu...but not because we've run out of other options). While it is true that this housing market is a far cry from the extreme sellers market of 2007. Ill take this over the uncertainty in 2008 and 2009 any day. I'm convinced that we are experiencing the equivalent of "aftershocks" right now. We've already had the big free fall and its going to be bumpy for a while. However, the most important factor in making the decision to buy or sell a home right now shouldn't be the latest report on housing trends on CNN. We need to focus on our own "personal economies" as homeowners and what the specific needs of our clients are as agents.
I had a client last year who wanted to sell his primary residence because he was convinced the market was going to continue to drop. He wanted to sell his home so that he could rent and then buy again when the market was improving. I thought he was insane and told him so (he also wore white tube socks with black loafers and running shorts...I should have known). Why sell near the bottom of the market and wait to buy again when housing prices are going up? He prided himself on reading everything he could get his hands on about real estate...and that was a big part of the problem. He was reacting out of fear to too much negative and conflicting information. I can understand his paranoia. I was listening to the radio several weeks ago and in the span of 2 hours I heard completely contrasting reporting on the housing market. One show featured a panel discussion on the Seattle market. Most of the panelists were fairly optimistic that we had already hit "bottom" and that there were amazing deals to be had. They also remarked that Seattle and Tacoma are slated to be some of the first "rebound" markets in the nation. An hour later I was listening to some crab apple talk about how real estate is NEVER a good investment. He used the price of homes in Amsterdam as compared to inflation there for the last two centuries as an example. There are as many opinions out there as there are people....and bad news gets people's attention. The problem with my client was that he wasn't differentiating between his "personal economy", his local market and national market trends. He had a young family, his home was in a great location close to good schools and work. His home had had enough space for everyone and it was fairly new. I also happened to know that he was someone who paid down his mortgage aggressively and that he had a lot of equity in his house. Selling it was not a sound financial decision.
As agents, a big part of our job right now if focusing on client's individual needs. There is no "one size fits all". The market isn't gloom and doom for everyone. A significant portion of the people my partner and I are working with right now are move up buyers. These are people who have been in their homes for at least 5 to 10 years and they can afford to take a hit on their price so that they can buy "up" and take advantage of great prices and low interest rates on their next home. They are thinking long term, which is what most of us need to be doing. People will always need to buy and sell. Life circumstances change no matter what the economy is like.
I think that the fear of the unknown is much more dangerous than what is actually happening in the housing market. Yes, there are people who have been completely sucker punched by the economic downturn, and short sales and foreclosures will be with us for a while. However, there are also plenty of financially stable buyers and sellers who simply need to focus on the task at hand. They need grounded, well informed agents who can advise them and help them get from Point A to Point B. As agents we set the tone as soon as we walk through the door. So, when people ask me in a worried tone..."How are you doing...how's the market?" I tell them the truth. I tell them that I've never worked harder in my life and that I'm really busy because plenty of people are still having babies.
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