January 27,2010

Thinking back to last year, I am filled with Gratitude.During the time between the Election and the Inauguration, we experienced a phenomenon I had never seen in my thirty one years in real estate. There was a sense of paralysis- " deer in the headlights" as people waited for the changing of the administration.

In the years of my practice, I have noticed that when some catastrophic event occurs, the market usually slows or stops for about three weeks. The flood of 1982, the Stock market crash of October 1987 ( or maybe it was John Lennon's death) the Loma Prieta earthquake, in October 1989, the first Gulf War ( 1990) were all occasions memorable for their shocking impact and in every case, it seemed that people who needed to sell or buy usually got started again in about three weeks. ( People who need to move do so, no matter what is going on around them.)

I sold a house three weeks after the Loma Prieta Quake. I sold a house right before the Gulf War and then none until three weeks later.

The first time I saw this phenomenon challenged was after September 11. Things came to a halt then, and, just as we were starting to get going again, the country entered the war with Afghanistan. Then we started in on Iraq... so there was about a two month freeze in the market.

The 2008-2009 slow down was the most drastic pause I have ever seen. Fortunately, with the first time home buyer credit, the decision to continue to keep interest rates low, and lower prices, Buyers have entered the market in droves. As the " bridge loan" has become a thing of the past, any one who wants to change their address who does not have the twenty percent down for the purchase of their new home, must sell first, just like in the old days, and then shop for their next home. This situation can be scary.... selling before you know where you are going. However, I have never failed to find a person their next home: I have no homeless clients.