HOMEOWNERSHIP: REPORTS OF ITS DEATH ARE EXAGGERATED

This headline was posted by the KCM Crew, authors of a blog for a real estate website called, "Keeping Current Matters." It's a great name for a blog, because in real estate, keeping current does indeed... matter. The above mentioned article randomly addresses the many negative articles regarding real estate, many of which have been published in local southern California papers. This newsletter, although not political, strongly disagrees with scare tactics and negative ploys designed solely to sell papers. After numerous recent articles all playing on the word, "scary", a pun on the Halloween holiday, let's level the playing field with some real numbers and let you, the discerning and intelligent reader, make up your own mind.

Local papers would have you believe that the sky is, in fact, falling; real estate will never recover and will never be the same. More on that later, with some real numbers that are a little sobering. But first, homeownership itself; is it dwindling? Is it, "on its way out?" Hardly. In fact, pick up a copy of the recently released Fannie Mae 2011 3rd quarter National Housing Survey. Both Generation Y (birthday mid-1970's to mid-1990's) and Generation X (mid-1960's to mid-1970's) have stronger beliefs in the importance of homeownership than those of the general population... yes that would be the boomers, and boomers have loved real estate. It seems clear that as the economy improves, so will housing demand.

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BUT DON'T BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NO DEMAND FOR HOUSING NOW

In fact, local associations of Realtors and Multiple Listing Data indicate that inventory is quite low. Part of the reason sales have slowed is there simply isn't enough saleable product out there. In this type of market, there will always be properties on the market that are technically available inventory, but simply have too many problems to overcome. They need a particular type of buyer. These properties can make it appear there is more inventory than is actually "saleable." Frankly, it is surprising that people who can buy, have chosen to back away from the market because of predictions of a triple dip. It's a "cost vs. buy" analysis. If you believe in home ownership, its tax deductions, its features of durability and stability for yourself and your family, then prices coupled with interest rates should make for a fairly attractive picture. Yes, prices could go down, but what it actually costs you, may never be better. Also loan programs could change and availability could change, since lending has been very volatile. But what won't change is the historic and undeniable return on investment that occurs in real estate every 10 years. Sometimes the cycle is shorter; sometimes the downturns (such as this one) are annoying. But check on a property, any property, and see what it sold for in 2000, and what its value is today, in the midst of our worst downturn. REMEMBER THE PROMISE OF MORE ON THE TOPIC, "REAL ESTATE WILL NEVER RECOVER?..."

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THE SHIP APPEARS TO BE TURNING, OR HOUSE PRICES TO FALL OVER NEXT SIX MONTHS

Well, both are true. October 31st, CNN Money reported: "Home prices headed for triple dip." Fiserv (a financial analytics company), has predicted a 3.6% fall in prices on a national basis by next summer. Now remember, southern California is a very different place than Las Vegas or Florida. But still, nationally it means that the Case-Shiller Home Price Index is going to fall to 35% below its peak in 2006. But what Ken Johnson, Ph.D. (Florida International University and Editor of the Journal of Housing Research) points out, is that the dip depends on circumstances being in place to lessen the impact that market anxiety causes. What circumstances? According to Johnson they are sometimes referred to as "housing affordability measures, and some of them are: 1) Price of income to the house 2) mortgage payment to income 3) buy versus rent analysis for various markets that encourage buying. Did you know that the payments to income ratios are at a 30-year low in all 50 states? Why haven't the local papers reported that? The downturn in prices will bring more affordability factors into play for more people, especially the Gen Xers and Gen Yers, which is where the pent up demand is going to come from in the first place.

Also of interest locally to southern California is the best prognosis for recovery you can have: skilled labor, desirable location, and economic resiliency.

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