Articles
January 2007
by Bill Jardine Jan 26, 2007
January remains the month of greatest promise, as the whole new year lies ahead, and strong trade winds whisk away the last vestiges of the by-gone year. This January has only been exceptional in our curious lack of rain, the result of the jet stream running at the highest end of the Pacific, sending rotten weather into the north west and sending soaking Seattle sufferers to our sunny shores. The weather here has been great, of course.
This year the real estate talk is all about who is getting a deal on what. That is quite a refreshing break from the frantic competition for properties that we have seen for the last few years as speculators crowded into the market, driving prices too high for common sense. However, those who purchased to make a quick buck are suffering. The silver lining is that interest rates have remained low, so those with adjustable rate mortgages have not felt the terrible bite of escalating monthly payments.
The last great surge in real estate prices was caused in large part by the low interest rates available as well as a lack of opportunity to invest in anything else exciting. While rates remain low, the stock markets are doing very well right now, and many well-invested individuals are seeing gross annual gains approaching 20%. That makes real estate speculation much less attractive than last time around, when the stock market alternative did not exist!
So what are we expecting this year anyway? Well, it seems like we will continue to see buyers negotiate attractive prices on properties for the next year or longer until demand by retiring Boomers once again pushes prices up, up, up.
Very often we see folks moving out the stock markets well in advance of those markets topping out, and we expect to see serious real estate investors looking for retirement properties in a year or eighteen months. At that point we are likely to see entire condo projects change hands after failing to attract many individual buyers. Especially in resort condos we are expecting to see some really great deals.
If you would like to enjoy this most wonderful time to finally buy something on your own terms, please give us a call. That’s what we do for a living … we work for you, the Buyer.
Imua,
William N. Jardine
