I have worked in real estate for a long time. When I began my career “Wham” was still a band and not the sound of the market falling and I could still afford a 2 coffee a day habit. Twenty years ago when I started in real estate the business was different and so was I…way, way different.
Well, as the saying goes, that was then and THIS is now. I am going to say something that you won’t believe. You will think I am making this stuff up, but…I will say it anyways because I am a brassy girl with a big mouth. NOW ISN’T SO FRIGGIN BAD PEOPLE!
Ok, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. But, seriously. In 1989, when I was hitting my one year anniversary in the real estate business the mortgage interest rate fluxuated from 9.6% to 10.9+%. The unemployment rate was hovering around 5%.
Times were not easy, we were all pinched and worried, but at no time in my recollection did things become so “dramatic” as they are now.
What changed? Well, since this is my blog, I guess I am entitled to my opinion:
THE MEDIA. Scarey stuff on the boob tube, but do you want these schmucks dictating your life?
Now, I won’t tell you things are all sunshine and cinnamon right now. They aren’t. Times are hard and the market is volitile at best, I see reality like everyone else. BUT…
Look at the convergence of the facts for real estate buyers right now: low low low interest rates (my first home was a VA purchase at 9% and I thought that was good!), the home values have hit the valley and are due for a mild bounce and in the Western Massachusetts market things have quieted down and tabled.
It is very feasible that you could “wait for things to get better” only to find out that the rates have gone up, values are still the same and you just spent a year living somewhere you didn’t like all to save not one penny.
Don’t let me tell you what to do, either. That makes us both schmucks. Do some research. Do some soul searching. Take a leap of faith or take a breather. Whatever you decide, do it because you decided it was right…don’t let the shock jocks rule your world. We didn’t in 1989 and I think we were better for it!
