The Paris terror attacks are another example of the despicable horror being perpetrated throughout the world.
Will they impact our local real estate market?
Buyers drop out every day for a variety of reasons – mostly because the houses they can afford are not up to their standard. This terrorist act will cause some to pause the home search and wait until next year to see what happens. But there will always be buyers available for the quality properties.
Will sellers panic?
After the 9/11 attacks, our local real estate market stalled for a couple of weeks. But it bounced back quickly, and within a month it was back to normal.
The sellers are the key. Will they hurry up and list their home now, instead of waiting for spring? It’s doubtful that a terrorist attack in Paris will change the plans of home sellers here – especially about their price. Until we experience another attack in America, sellers will shrug it off and proceed will their plan.
My two cents worth is that if they had tried what they did in Paris in either Houston or Johannesburg they would have drawn the first couple of rounds of return fire in about 10 seconds.
At the margin, this will shift globally mobile people to want to live in the US which has fewer radical Islamists and an ocean separating us.
And within the US, suburbs like NSDCC are less likely terrorist targets than crowded urban areas.
Having been to Paris recently I can honestly report that the French people are being far too lenient on who they let in.
Last time I was there I got off the train into one of the most beautiful stations I had ever seen. I had the choice of riding the underground which is what 99% of the Parisians appeared to be doing or I could go outside the station and catch a cab. Since my French sucks and I’d never been to where I was going I decided to get a cab. The minute I was out of the station it felt like I had stepped into Iraq. Everyone was middle eastern and nobody appeared to be smiling. After jumping in a cab I continued to ride through some of the most beautiful architecture I’d ever seen all occupied by people that were middle eastern and again did not look friendly. I don’t want to seem like I dislike middle eastern people this is not the case. But when to don’t speak the language all you have is non verbal cues to go by and what I saw appeared hostile.
@Shadash
don’t forget about London. It is pretty much same there. A friend routinely travels to london for business. A travel alert was placed on the UK for a brief time and his company forbid him to travel to the UK. If he did travel to London while this alert was in place, his life insurance policy would have been voided.
@Just some guy
Our top execs still travel to Europe but the number of Americans in lower positions accompanying them has gone way down. It’s partially a cost cutting measure but it’s also to do with the political situation that’s going on. Big businesses (like Air France as an example) used to require Americans fly over before inking deals. This is no longer the case which I feel is sad. It always means more to those that visit a customer that they have a positive experience with the product. I’m also starting to see expos/events moving north to countries like Germany, the UK, or Denmark/Sweden.
I feel really bad for what’s going on in Paris right now. I’ve known coworkers there for 10+ years. I’ve had some of the best time’s hanging out with them. It’s a shame that the openness the French people have provided to immigrants is coming back to haunt them.
shadash:
“But when to don’t speak the language all you have is non verbal cues to go by and what I saw appeared hostile.”
So… they’re frustrated because they haven’t learned english, and you haven’t learned farsi. That’s what all the trouble’s about! How could we not have seen this before?!
Martin Luther King Jr. used to say that the United States is a ten-day nation. Basically that our country seems unable to focus on a single issue for more than 10 days.
So, we’ll see what’s in the headlines in 10 days.