Volatile Stocks:Good for Real Estate?When asked to predict stock prices almost a century ago, J.P. Morgan famously opined that “they will fluctuate.” How right he was! According to experts, the current market is the most tumultuous in over 70 years. Anyone with exposure to stocks — or even The Wall Street Journal — has witnessed...Read More
Housing Market: Investing Safe Haven? Winston Churchill is famous for saying that “Democracy is the worst form of government . . except for all the others.” The same might now be said of investing in real estate. According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home price index — quickly becoming the Dow Jones of the housing market...Read More
Predicting housing prices recalls Mark Twain’s old saw about picking stocks. “Picking stocks is easy,” he said. “Only buy stocks that go up. If they don’t go up, don’t buy ’em.” Similarly, to divine the direction of housing prices, just figure out where the economy and interest rates are headed (plus employment and inflation). Once...Read More
Lenders Hike Down Payment Requirements Burned by defaulting loans, at least some lenders are now adopting practices that stand to make things worse (“Zip Code ‘Redlining'”, Kenneth Harney; Washington Post 2/2/2008). To reduce risk, Countrywide Bank and others are now characterizing whole areas as either rising or declining, with shades therein. Where prices are deemed...Read More
Holding Out for 2009 Prices??? Perhaps the single best word to describe the current housing market is “cautious.” Inundated by negative media and predictions of price drops, buyers want to pay 2009 prices — or what they think they will be. Meanwhile, many sellers — notwithstanding exposure to the same media reports — are intent...Read More
With the intensifying of what was already a buyer’s market, it is only natural for recent buyers to second-guess whether they should have waited. My advice as a professional realtor? Not to look back, for the following four reasons. One. Peter Lynch, the stock market guru, is famous for opining that it is impossible to...Read More
