Do You Believe in Home Ownership?
Given these tough economic times and challenging housing market, you may ask yourself if real estate is still a good investment? Depending on who you ask, you're likely to get quite a variety of answers that cover the full gamut.
At its core, I'm confident it still is, since everyone needs a place to live and "they aren't making anymore land." With that said, I do think people have to return to the thinking that its a longer term investment and not something we can buy and flip in a year or two and still make money, without making substantial improvements or something of the like.
What we have to understand is, that the market got over inflated by mortgages becoming to easy and too cheap to obtain (which was driven by the government thru Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) which artificially drove prices up due to increased affordability. That artificial infuence propelled us into the over correction we're now experiencing and we will ultimately settle back into a balanced market.
It seems the government or some artificial infuence affects the real estate market about every 20 years or so, such as goverment programs for vets returning from world war II or the savings and loan crisis, etc... What we, as real estate investors and home owners, need to keep in mind is that although there will be these occasional peaks and valleys in the market, over the long haul the market will see a gradual upward trend. Couple this with the tax benefits, personal freedom and pride of ownership and you'll see that owning a home will remain the American Dream.
I know, I know, this sounds like a salesperson trying to convince you to buy, but I'm not alone in my thinking, based on a recent Trulia-Realty Track survey.