Avatar's Blog

When the stock market was rising, nay-sayers warned of doom and gloom. "The market cannot sustain these numbers!" "The crash is coming!" When the market bubble burst, it was more of an air leak. Stocks did not tumble in a day, they adjusted in value to a more realistic measure over a reasonably short period of time, but not in hours or days. Wise investors saw the signs and moved out. Others ignored the signs and paid the price. Nevertheless, the broad brush market numbers are back where they were at the peak, with the DOW over 10,000 and the NASDAQ over 2,000 - numbers that doomsayers swore would never be seen again.

By the same token, the warnings of softening real estate prices abound in the news today. Take heed, but do it with a grain of salt. If you are considering a real estate purchase, look at the long term and consider whether you are comfortable holding the property until prices increase, even if there is a softening of the market in the short term. If you have flexiblity in your investment timing, consider waiting a few weeks to see what comes. If the property you are looking at is a 'too good to be true' property, now is the time to buy it. If you wait, it will be gone and a short term adjustment of a few percent is not going to negate the excellence of the deal.

In other words, be pragmatic. Read everything. Believe only that which you can corroborate with statistics you can obtian independently of the article you are reading. The web helps you with research into markets, pricing trends, business and residential trends and more. Make buying and selling deicisions based on solid personal research, not heresay and doomsayers. In many markets, a softening of the market might mean and annual increase of only 5-8% instead of double digit increases. The wise investor relies on personal research. Take the time to do it right and your portfolio will flourish.