“It’s just back to normal’, “Just a seasonal slow-down’, “A normal minor adjustment’, “A great time to buy, with a much wider selection’, “A cooling market’”, “A soft landing”, “A slight tapering off” etc. Yes, these P.C. phrases are now replacing the “We should have a strong market for the foreseeable future” industry line prevalent just a few short months ago.The sad fact is people are still in self-denial here. We’re “special” because of our weather. We are known as America’s Finest City after all. It’s still common to hear someone say, “If you don’t buy now, you’re going to get priced out of the market!”Talk about your irrational exuberance in the Southern California real estate market. In a 2004 summer poll in the LA area, residents believed prices would continue to go up by more than 20% a year for another decade!What will be the industry P.C. phrases we’ll be hearing in about six to nine months? “It may well go as: “This home is a great buy, why just nine months ago you would have paid $25,000+ more…what a great savings.” Naturally, you would be talking to a buyer. For a seller (who has owned for some years) you might say: “Well, you are still making a profit. Who could have even known that the market would have turned down so fast?” For the downtown high-rise buyer who though they got a real deal on the final phase of their Gas Lamp digs, a real estate agent may be saying: “Well, because the resale value is actually below your 100% interest only trust deed, you really should consult a real estate attorney and/or meet with your lender to propose they accept your deed in lieu of foreclosure”.Are you reading this and thinking I’m way off base? Here are a few recent headlines:National Association of Realtors reports, in part: Total existing-home sales – including single-family, town homes, condominiums and co-ops – were down 5.7 percent in December from November.Time Magazine reports that ‘Vegas Condos Go Cold.”The Washington Post reports “Real estate groups in the Washington area have also reported declines to varying degrees.”"The bloom is definitely off the housing rose. Housing peaked last summer and has been weakening ever since,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently said the real estate market was slowing “dramatically” and only a “miracle” could stop soaring mortgage rates from eating into housing prices. “The real estate market is slowing down dramatically and we’re going to have a problem down the road,” Bloomberg said.”If people who want to sell their houses have to wait a longer time before someone comes along and buys it, it would be a miracle if prices didn’t start to go down,” he said.”‘The market has definitely peaked,’ said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the L.A. County Economic Development Corp. ‘The fever has broken and now the question people are asking themselves is if there is a crash ahead.’”This is my own opinion on a realistic view of what lies ahead as far as the San Diego real estate market: A multi-year depreciation that could easily take 30% off the highs which reached this market’s peak during the summer of 2005! Plus, I foresee headlines, maybe even national, announcing how the San Diego high-rise downtown boom has turned into a foreclosure city!As a realistic San Diego Realtor, I provide these facts to my sellers. If their property is not generating meaningful activity within the first month of being listed, it would be prudent to consider a revised marketing plan similar to what many San Diego real estate developers are doing. This would be a combination of value-range reduction as well as agent and buyer incentives to position the property as the best total value for the area.I think as Realtors we must adapt and not deny. To otherwise will have a dramatic impact on your financial health and community reputationCopyright 2006 – http://www.websitetrafficbuilders.com All rights reserved. any additions/modifications/hyperlinks added to this article will be considered a copyright violation & subject to immediate legal action without further notice.
Real Estate Housing Market – Oh, It Is Just Back to Normal – Yea, Right!
The Financial Education You Never Received
I don’t know about what school was like for you, but when I went through school financial education was pretty much non-existent.
I seem to recall one small class on financial education that covered balancing a cheque book and other basics like that. Other than that though, learning how money works wasn’t a subject we were taught in school.
My Own Financial Education
For over a decade now I’ve been on my own mission of financial education that has included reading books, attending seminars, hiring coaches and working with mentors. It’s through this quest for knowledge that I’ve been able to get a much better understanding of what money actually is, and how our financial systems operate today.
Thanks to the internet there is a never ending supply of information available at your fingertips. The challenge is knowing what’s good and accurate and what isn’t. I have a select number of sources that I follow because of the quality of the information they provide, and there’s no shortage of information about how our banking and financial systems work if you look for it.
The Financial Education You Need Won’t Come From Schools
While a large segment of the population is waking up to the scam that has been perpetrated against us, the vast majority of “sheeple” are still in the dark and have no idea how our money system actually works.
Your Financial Education Begins When You Understand That Every Dollar In Existence Is Created As Debt
Once you understand this simple truth, you realize that interest is an instrument of financial enslavement. The money in circulation has been created out of thin air and circulates in the economy, but the money to pay the interest has never been created so we’re simply playing a game of financial musical chairs and when the music stops someone loses their car or home, and the bank gains the asset.
Why Don’t Schools Teach Financial Education?
I’ve often wondered why financial education isn’t taught in school just like math, English and science. In truth, I think it needs to be a core subject. It’s certainly a skill that we’ll all utilize throughout our lives, and without it we tend to suffer.
Perhaps that’s the reason. If you subscribe to some of the theories out there, the modern education system was designed and funded by the elite over a century ago. At that time the globe was full into the industrial revolution, and there was a high demand for factory workers.
Why not create an “education system” that churns out obedient, well trained workers to man the factories. They’d be used to reporting in at a certain time, asking to use the washrooms, eating and taking breaks when the establishment permits.
Whether you buy into that theory completely or not, I believe there’s certainly some truth there. When you follow the money through the system across the globe, it tends to all point back to the same handful of organizations owned by the same handful of wealthy families.
It’s Time To Take Responsibility For Your Own Financial Education
The truth is nobody cares more about you or your money than you do. Your teachers didn’t, your banker doesn’t, your financial planner doesn’t and nobody else does either.
If you ever want to get a handle on your finances and escape the rat race of financial enslavement, then you have to take ownership of your financial education and know how money works, so you can get it working for you.
One of the best ways I know to attain this education is to seek out books by authors like Robert Kiyosaki, and Peter Schiff, and seek out mentors online and offline. There’s a wealth of knowledge available to you, and it’s your responsibility to seek it out and apply it.