The housing market 'recovery'

I provide monthly listing and sales reports on this blog. The local media has noticed and has started to use some of my data in their articles. I'll get emails and sometimes phone calls after my reports on this blog or after a KDM article comes out. The people ask me, "when will it (market) turn around??"

I'm always reluctant to give an answer, here is why. I've been in this business now for the last seven years. I think I started at the right time. Sales were steady at first and within a couple of years... sales were soaring at record numbers. It was my first experience in a 'booming' market. The year 2005 was the high point of the booming market and since then, my business has suffered to some degree because of the (whatever you want to call it) 'busting' or 'deflating' or 'correcting' market. 2006 was better than 2007, and the first part of 2008 has been worse statistically than 2007 in terms of units sold (but it is early).

All markets are cyclical, meaning what goes up normally comes down... and when the low point is reached, the market heads back in the other direction.

Some folks have lived long enough to see these market cycles come and go. Before I decided to get into this line of work I have to admit that I never really paid much attention to housing markets and so forth. I am not an expert about the future, I don't predict the future, and I'm not comfortable at this time to say when this current market bottoms out.

All I have is the data that I have been collecting. It is historical data by the time I share it with the readers here and my clients and others thinking about hiring me to represent them on either a sale or purchase of property. I do look forward to the day when the data will show an emerging trend in the other direction. By then though, the smart real estate investors will already be back in the market. Not all folks who buy or sell property are real estate investors. Most people in fact are simply residents of the homes they purchase to put a roof over their head.

While you won't find me predicting the 'bottom' of the market, others that have been through the up's and down's before will lend their gut feeling on these types of things.

One of those folks is a person I consider to be a good friend that I've been lucky enough to meet through networking in real estate and blogging. I'm talking about Jeff Brown.

Here is a recent post of his that supports the notion that the end of the correction is near. If you have questions I think he is the right person to discuss the future with. He will say that his crystal ball is as cracked as anyone's, but he is someone that has seen many up's and down's in the real estate market.

There will come a day when I experience a few of these cycle's and have more guts to lay some cards on the table, but for now (and thanks to the Internet) we can all find more information from others that have been through the good and the bad times and be able to recognize the coming market shift. I ask that you give Mr. Brown a shot in is post and read the ensuing discussion.

I provide the data so that you can draw your own conclusions. Reading Mr. Brown's post will also allow you to do that.

Happy reading.