MARKET PERSPECTIVE

Out of adversity comes opportunity. Despite the turmoil on Wall Street and rising unemployment statistics, the news is not all bad. There are still plenty of buyers in the marketplace with purchasing power. Low housing prices and low interest rates are stimulating aggressive buyers to seek bargains in virtually every market.

Are there really bargains out there? You bet! Consider this. Properties in even the most desirable areas such as Bloomfield Village and the lakes area can be purchased for about half of what they were fetching just a few years ago. Many newly constructed spec homes could not be duplicated at today’s asking prices. And, the cost of owning a home in many areas is now lower than the cost to rent!

It is important that consumers are able to put the market in perspective. They must redirect their focus from the loss in value of their present property to the difference in value between their current home and the home they may desire.
Regardless of the paper loss in value of one’s current home, would it be better that the cost to move up to the next home is, say, $300,000, as it may have been a few years ago, or only $150,000 as it is today?

The point is that many people’s perception that they can’t sell their home and move to another is predicated upon the unwillingness to “take a loss on sale”. That thinking masks the ability to recognize the true opportunity to move in this market. In many, if not most cases, when both the sell and the buy sides of the move transaction are considered, buyers are better off moving in this market than they would be in one that is rapidly appreciating.