2009: Real Estate, the Economy and How We Got Here
Posted on January 1, 2009
Filed Under Economy, Real Estate |
YYYYAAAAAAWWWWNN.
YIKES!! What time is it?
…
There’s something inherently cleansing about endings and beginnings, even if superficial. Yesterday was certainly Wednesday, today Thursday just like any other week; yesterday it rained, today…it rained; yesterday the malls were open to capture the diminishing remnants of consumer confidence, today the malls are open … you get the idea.
But yesterday was 2008, a year real estate would love to forget and - one would hope - learn from. ‘2009′ just has a nice, new ring to it, and for a few weeks at least we can engage in the planning to mold it into what we want. Unexpected events - did anyone predict $1.59 gas or 5% mortgages six months ago? - will alter that, of course, and encourage us in other directions, the new worn off, but for now: wallow.
Like many I tabled my license several months ago; many more will follow by failing to pay year end PMAR/OAR/NAR dues. The agent purge is emphatically happening, something many thought was good and necessary, but in this case I’m not so sure. Some of the best agents I know had very tough years; some of the sleaziest - yes, they exist - remain. In an industry that needs a nearly complete makeover the status quo has been reinforced: In tough times sellers naturally gravitate to known quantities. In spite of its often nutty projections and predictably sterile (and costly) “This is the Best Time EVER to Buy a Home!” marketing plan the NAR is more entrenched than ever, the UAW of real estate.
But I still love the business and, given the housing market is so strongly tied to everything else going on in the economy, will go back to writing under the RE rubric. It’s difficult to predict where we’re going in 2009 without knowing how we got here in the first place. So:
Spend twenty five minutes. The following is as good an explanation as you’re likely to get:
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