I am not one to sugar-coat things — too much — and pride myself on being an ethical person.
Sometimes, I wonder if I’m the only one playing by these rules. Is the housing market down? Sure it is.
- Is it as bad as the national media make you believe? No.
- Is it as good as the National Association of REALTORS makes you believe? No.
As the old adage states, every story has three sides — yours, mine, and the truth. I’ve been trying to keep this blog informational without becoming a mouth-piece for real estate.
But, a Yahoo! article, “Tent city in suburbs is cost of home crisis” has pulled me from the cozy location beside the Christmas tree while my Browns look like crap on the television.
According to Yahoo!, there is a tent city in a California suburb that is caused by the current situation in our housing market. Yet, it is admitted that not a single person living in the tents is a victim of foreclosure.
Now, I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend that the down housing market isn’t hurting our neighborhoods. An increase in vacant homes – regardless of wheter they are foreclosure or simply abanandoned – will cause a collection of issues:
- Decreased value of your home. Traditionally appraisers are taught to ignore distressed sales when valuing your home. But, when the majority of an areas sales are distressed how do you avoid them?
- Reduced Tax Base for Community. Short term will be the loss of revenue when the home owner stops paying for the home. Long-term is the result of declining home values and its impact on the city’s coffers.
Is the market getting better? Yes. I had two houses go into contract last week and have discussions currently going on regarding a couple of my other properties. I am listing two new properties this week and get the feel that we are starting to see the market make an upturn.
We will not return to the 2005 levels right away, but a slowly improving market is good for everyone — buyers, sellers, contractors, and the numerous other industries that count on a strong housing market to survive.
So to answer your question, “the markets looking up, still a ways to go, but looking up.”
 Photograph by Asif Akbar and used via permission from stock.xchng.
Well written my fellow Ohioan. An article like that, what purpose does it serve? It could tell the story of the tent city without trying to link foreclosures to get you to the article. Sometimes the press aggravates me enuf to kick in my tourettes
I get frustrated with the media, but also the NAR extreme oposite view.
Of course, I just read a story that the credit card melt-down is based upon the mortgage crisis. Umm … They may go hand-in-hand, but BASED UPON?
I did a post about credit yesterday and have before; like you , its a theme. Credit has been waiting to bring out the worst in us for decades. It’s the mentality, not a particular series of events. In my humble opinion. lol Merry Christmas, Toby
Carole – AMEN! When people think of their primary residence as an investment rather than a liability – it is a recipe for disaster.
When I can buy a $4.00 lunch on credit — something’s wrong.