Headlines everywhere are touting how rising rates are slowing down the real estate market. The experts jump to conclusions, and the media loves bad news. One of our favorites is front and center today – Lawrence Yun. From cnbc.com:
“The modest decline in sales is not yet concerning, and contract activity remains elevated, with the South and Midwest showing no measurable slowdown,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “However, higher mortgage interest rates and rising home prices are impacting monthly contract activity in the high-cost regions of the Northeast and the West.”
Mortgage rates are the same everywhere, and your location isn’t what determines whether sellers and buyers are coming together.
Experts postulate about who or what to blame, and not on how to fix it.
You can blame any reason on the list for fewer sales:
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Rising rates (they have stalled)
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Low inventory
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Tight credit
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Investors/Wall Street
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Syria
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Government
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Builders
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Realtors
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Chargers
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Padres
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Jim the Realtor
If Lawrence Yun was actually a realtor and looked a little deeper – or the media would ask more questions – then eventually the reason that pendings are down anywhere would be discovered:
Sellers aren’t adjusting their price enough to satisfy the buyers.
Lawrence Yun and others are always quick to blame external events, but as our spokesman, he should offer the solution – price will fix everything!
Yunnie, can you give us a hand here!
I’ll illustrate the point:
If the Chargers would just spend the money on quality players and win the Super Bowl, it would bring more exposure to our fine city, causing more retirees from around the world to come here to live the good life.
Or if they would just hurry up and move to LA, then people here would quit wasting their time watching them on Sunday, and be out buying houses instead.
See, it’s the Chargers’ fault!
Padres:
They are so cheap they only hire low-end players for a year or two – and you can’t expect those guys to feel comfortable buying a house.
If they would spend big money of big-name free-agents, those players would buy expensive homes. Like the one I saw yesterday:
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-130001338-15651_Puerta_Del_Sol_Rancho_Santa_Fe_CA_92067
Not only would we have more pendings, but indirectly these sales would help build momentum because other buyer-confidence would rise.
It’s the Padres fault!
It’s my fault, and I think about it every day – if I just wrote a better blog, I’d sell more houses!!!
no better blog for on-the-ground info!
Ha! Ha! Hilarious. I am not sure about this Syria thing either. Just lower the prices already!
The Syria one is obvious – if they would just quit gassing innocent victims, we could round them up as refugees and bring them here to buy houses!!
I think you missed Hannah Montana’s twerking episode.
Banana Montana? There were several reports of 50- and 60-somethings cancelling their home-buying plans, figuring it wasn’t worth it because the world is about to come to an end.
I’m blaming Timberlake too. If he just would do an N*SYNC reunion tour, think of how many houses would be bought by Fatty Fatone?
Not sure which of Confucius Klinge’s proverbs I like least… “price will fix everything” or “nothing that money can’t fix.”
How about getting a total of 2% raise in the last 5 years. I guess keeping your job is the new “raise.”
@Thaylor Harmor
Just wait until Obama-care exerts it’s full effect. It won’t be enough to keep your job, but rather if you can remain a full time employee rather than a Temp.
90% of all jobs created since 2009 are part-time. But that applies to 10% of the workforce. The other 90% are still hanging on….
Check out this link regarding the recession that is still going on (even though technically, we are not in a recession): http://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug13/recession-never-ended8-13.html
If someone has two part-time jobs do they count them twice in that number?