The Sky is NOT falling!

If you've been listening to the news media over the last several months you would think the sky was falling in the real estate business. They make you believe there is no mortgage money available and no one is buying at this time and there is no hope. But I'm here to tell you that we are doing the same level of Sales in real estate that we did in 1999, and that was record year. Here are the differences in the market place today, the number of agents are around 1.3 million agents (figures supplied from National Association of Realtors) compared to 1999 levels of 850,000. The housing supply is at a 10 months supply compared to a 5 months supply in 1999. The interest rate today is around 6% for a 30 yr fixed rate loan compared to 1999 at 7.5%. Now because of the financial troubles with the banks and mortgage companies it's taking a higher credit score to get buyers qualified and they need more money down to qualify. What most people don't recognize is that we've had 10 + years of awesome growth and prosperity, now we are back to normal times of having a home be on the market 90 to 180 days and sellers have to be realistic to believe they are not going to get a 15-30% increase each year to maybe going up 3-4% instead. Here are some market facts for you, buyers who purchased homes between and 2000 and 2004, if they had to sell today, they will still make money.