When you hear the old adage that there’s a silver lining to every cloud, you may not think it’s applicable to the bum economy. But depending on your perspective, it absolutely is – especially if you’re looking to buy a home. Discover where opportunities exist for new home seekers and find out how the tough economy can add wealth to your bottom line.
Look beyond the media
We live in an information age. When something riveting happens (and more than likely, something negative), media moguls pounce on it and blast it over the airways.
Because of that, virtually all adult Americans are well aware of the tough economy. They know about the housing slump and the unemployment rate and the lines at soup kitchens.
What few people stop to consider is how they personally are affected. It’s a common thing to hear a news announcement and apply it to your own situation. Given that, most people who know about the housing bust will tell you that it’s an awful time to be relocating or looking into real estate investment opportunities.
Fortunately, that just isn’t true.
Go home shopping in the up-and-coming places
It’s true that real estate is a tough market in places like California, Michigan, Florida, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Folks in those places have been hard hit, losing millions in real estate and finding it virtually impossible to sell their homes.
What does that mean? It means not to go home shopping in any of those areas. You’d be hard-pressed to make your money reach far when home prices are expected to tank for a while yet and may never recover from their past highs.
But in other areas, it’s a different story. Real estate in places like Houston, Nashville, Atlanta, Albuquerque, Kansas City, and Manhattan is still a great investment. These cities have data that shows their property values will increase and that current prices represent a buyer’s market.
Why housing is now a local economy
This stark contrast in real estate fortunes between the cities mentioned above demonstrates how the nature of real estate has changed. It’s no longer a national economy, but rather a local one. The level of wealth you’ll acquire or lose by investing in real estate is directly dependent on the city where you live – not the state, and certainly not the country.
Look for opportunity in your own neck of the woods
The take-home lesson to all this is that most people don’t need to panic or fret about the future of real estate in America. There are certainly trouble spots here and there around the country and some people are definitely hurting financially, but overall they’re not hurting too badly.
If you live in a place where values are likely to increase, you should seriously thinking about buying a new home. Depending on your financial situation, you may even want to consider buying a second home. Given that real estate investment is the most common way to acquire real wealth in the U.S. (and is generally indicative of the American Dream), it’s usually going to be worth the risk.
Selling is still a viable possibility
If you live in a down market and you really need to sell your home and relocate, don’t worry. It’s still absolutely possible to make a good sale in a down economy, it’ll just take a little extra work.
Start by evaluating whether you live in a trouble spot. The level of extra effort you need to put in to sell your home is directly dependent on just how much of a trouble spot your city is.
Boost your marketing efforts and take the time to stage your home for buyers. Look into modern forms of marketing, including internet postings and virtual tours. Know that buyers will probably be scoping out your area, so your goal is to hook one for the highest price you can.
Look at the big picture
A lot of people who have gotten down and depressed about the housing slump fail to look at the big picture. Many feel broke or desperate when they look only at their real estate numbers. To be sure, if your home is showing a decline of, say, $60,000, you have every reason to be gloomy. But it doesn’t mean you’re destitute.
By simply cutting back in other areas, you’ll find that you absolutely have the means to weather the housing storm. You may even find that you’re able to start saving money to put in a safe account so you’ll never again be phased by a housing slump.
