After such a crazy 2008, I wanted to say thank you for all of your support and business throughout the year. We emerged relatively unscathed and are looking forward a great 2009.
Earlier this month I attended an Economic Forecast Symposium and noted Land Use Economist, Matthew Gardner, explained how he views the landscape for real estate and how the economy will look throughout the rest of 2009.
He cited that “housing will be critical to the recovery of our economy” and he mentioned this was true not only nationally but locally.
He recommended we take a page out of FDR’s book and remember when his campaign song was “happy days are here again” and his phrase of “you have nothing to fear but fear itself” as we move forward. Our fear of the market could be a self-fulfilling prophecy if we can’t get our consumer confidence up and get people to start spending money again.
So specifically what does this mean for you and me here in the Seattle area with regard to real estate?
- It’s fine to buy
- It’s even okay to sell, but be reasonable on your expected profit
- Will prices go down? It’s not likely; in fact the PMI risk index for cities’ likelihood of prices decreasing has Seattle at only a 2.3% chance of prices decreasing; now that means there is a 97.7% chance they will be increasing, so you decide if you want to wait to buy
- With interest rates so low, the benefit of waiting is reduced if you miss the low rates that are being offered now
I’ll sign off by saying let’s hope the “happy days are here again” and if we believe they are and can buy and sell appropriately I think we can create our own momentum.
Cheers, Marco Kronen
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