Newsletter December 2007:

 

2007 was a fantastic

Year to buy Real Estate

 

At least in most parts of the country.
In the last 50 years we haven't had such a great combination of interest rates, supply of houses, sellers who are open to all kinds of deals like seller financing, lease options etc., and an abundance of loans and loan options.


Unfortunately since the press hardly ever talks about this side of the market, it seems this good news hasn't reached the buyers and investors.
It is interesting that we still hear predictions from "so well informed people" who often paint a bad picture. However, in all these predictions it occurs the question "what does anybody know?" In New York a well paid CEO was recently fired, because it seemed he had no clue what was going on in the market. He was paid 48 million dollars per year for his knowledge in the investment and money world. If he didn't know, who knows?

Maybe Donald Trump? - He spoke recently "pro investment" on the Larry King Live Show when KING asked:
"Real estate market, what's going on?"<br> TRUMP: "It's an amazing situation. There are tremendous opportunities. You know what's interesting?
I was begging people not to buy real estate two years ago. And everybody was interested in buying.
And now they are less interested, and this is the time they should be going out -- not buying, negotiating to buy. This is the time.

Now, I'm sort of a tale of two cities, because
Manhattan is through the roof. I sold an
apartment last
week for $38 million. I'm selling apartments
now; I
have never sold apartments like this.
Manhattan is like
in a different world from everything else.

But this is the time. This is the time that
people should
be going out and making unbelievable deals on
real
estate."

 

 

 

 

The real estate market is going through some changes at the moment, to put it in prospective, here are some historical quotes:

 

 

Time Magazine 1947: "The prices of houses seem to have reached a plateau, and there is reasonable expectancy that prices decline."

 

Science Digest 1948:"Houses cost too much for the mass market. Todays average price is out of reach for two-thirds of all buyers." (average price at the time" $8000)

 

Business Week 1969:The goal of owning a home seems to be getting beyond the reach of more and more Americans." (average price at the time $28,000)

 

Money Magazine 1981:"The era of easy profit in real estate may be drawing to close."

 

Money Magazine 1986: "Most economists agree...a home will become little more than a roof and a tax deduction, certainly not the lucrative investment it was..."

 

San Francisco Examiner 1996: "A home is where the bad investment is."

 

Los Angeles Times 1993: "We are starting to go back to the time when you bought a home not for it's potential money-making abilities, but rather as a nesting spot."

 

Kiplinger's Personal Financial Magazine 1993: " Financial Planners agree that houses will continue to be a poor investment."