By Jeff Adolph
Residential Real Estate
Challenging, because of home depreciation, due to there being more homes on the market than there was a demand for. Challenging, because sub-prime mortgage lending reached its peak, and home owners who could not afford home repayments were forced into foreclosure, which in turn, added more homes to an already overstocked market. Challenging, because sub-prime mortgages affected the American economy, and saw many large banks either forced into receivership, or rescued by the Government. Challenging, because worldwide, the economies of many countries were affected by the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, and this brought a sudden halt to overseas investment, which saw global stock exchanges become highly voltile. Or does it? 1) Real estate can depreciate in value and it is not always a safe bet to use the equity in your home, especially if you are only looking to refinance to acquire luxury items; 2) When buying a home always consider the value of your investment in the long and short term; 3) Before you take out a mortgage consider your circumstances carefully, and whether or not you can afford to meet repayments if your circumstances change; 4) National and international economies are linked, by way of investment, and on occasions what effects one country can effect many; and 5) Even the experts cannot foresee what will unfold in an investment sense, otherwise the big banks and lenders that have gone into receivership and filed for bankruptcy would have considered their options more carefully, and had a much tighter lending criteria to thwart of any possibility of creating bad debts. Yes, we may have been caned by the real estate investment stick, in 2008, and regressed to the year 2000 in terms of real estate sales prices, in many cases. But, tough times and challenges create a newer, more dynamic marketplace and also make us much wiser in the process. Thus, our real estate decisions in 2009, and beyond, are going to be sounder, and give us far greater opportunity for investment.
Sources: Partin, Leonard A. (2008) 2008 - Real Estate Market; available online at http://www.thebeacon.net Image Source: Microsoft Clipart ----------------------------------------------------------------- *RealQuestions RealAnswers* Click on Comments below and share your thoughts and opinions, ask a real estate question or offer story suggestions... ----------------------------------------------------------------- © 2006+ Jeff Adolph GayRealEstate USA Proudly Sponsored By: Throughout 2008 many Realtors were constantly asked how the real estate market was fairing, and was anything selling? And, often the Realtor being questioned would respond with the single word answer of, "Challenging."
Therefore, overall 2008 in a real estate sense has been an exceptionally tough year for anyone in the profession, whether a Realtor or a financial backer, buyer or seller, and it leaves a cloud of uncertainty looming over 2009.
2008 and real estate have also taught many people some very important lessons, these being:
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