After, I posted yesterday’s article, “Central Ohio March Homes Sales Increase 54%,” a couple of questions came my way regarding my comments on the importance of confidence.
“How can you be sure that there will be confidence in the market when it …?” was the majority’s gist.
And the response is simple — you’ve misunderstood how I’m using “confidence”.
Confidence in this case has absolutely nothing to do with growth vs. recession, positive vs. negative, or even up vs. down. Confidence – in this case – is used to show a person’s belief in the actions they are taking.
Have you seen the number of “for rent” signs on the street corners? Yet, I keep hearing how when people aren’t buying houses, they have to rent them. But the number of rentals on the market has visibly increased in the past couple months.
Ahh, here is where confidence comes into play.
Should I buy a house or not?
Confidence has nothing to do with where the market will head, but being sure where you are heading. (ramzi hashisho/sxc)
- Yes, it is a great time to buy. You start to line-up your finances and get in touch with a REALTOR (I know one that I recommend) and start putting the items in line to buy a house. When you have confidence that the market is going to improve you’ll make a decision to make to purchase and will believe in the decision.
- No, it isn’t the right time to buy. You’ll find a nice rental property and move into it and continue to rent until you believe that the market is moving in a positive direction. As long as you are confident that buying isn’t right at this time, then you’ll be proud of your decision.
- I don’t know. This is where the real estate market comes to a halt – and where I believe we are right this moment – because nobody knows what to do. When you aren’t comfortable in your options to buy or rent, you’ll just freeze and do neither. The lack of confidence creates indecision which doesn’t allow for anything to happen in the market. Until you become confident in the market, you’ll just sit tight afraid to make the “wrong” decision and be locked into a long-term decision when you believe you made the wrong decision.
I hope that helps to clear up the confusion.
Great analysis. Down here in Orlando, March prices were up 5% and closings were up over 40% over a year ago. Most are attributing it to the home buyer tax credit but I’ve seen some foreign money coming in and I think investors, particularly fromm Brazil have determined that we’ve hit the true bottom and they are jumping in.