In our Desert Sun Newspaper today (April 26, 2008), the Headlines in the Business Section stated: Valley Home Sales Improve.” Coachella Valley’s home sales jumped 16.5% in March from February, the largest month-over-month increase the desert has seen since October. Real Estate agents are also seeing more sales. Both high-end sales and Canadian buyers continue to boost the market as well.”
For the past three years the media has been telling us the “real estate sky is falling” and home sales are plummeting downward. That may be true in some areas of the country, in some areas of California, and even in a few of our valley’s neighborhoods. But that has not always been a true statement for what has happened in our area, the Palm Springs Ca desert area. The amount of homes we’ve sold have fallen drastically….much of this due to the media scare…but we are still SELLING homes! And many of these homes have held their values in spite of the media scare.
The media used to present NEWS. That’s not true today. The news media now reports SENSATIONALISM. Newspapers and Television today, trying to compete with the Internet, feel the need to CREATE SENSATIONISM. They feel that just reporting the NEWS as it is, is not news-worthy enough. I come from a family of reporters and owners of newspapers, so I grew up with NEWS as it was reported in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. In those days NEWS was REPORTED. Today it is CREATED. That’s the difference, and the way real estate has been sensationalized by the news, has certainly NOT helped sales.
The truth of the matter is today is an “EXCELLENT TIME TO BUY.” Interest rates are historically low and there are many well-priced homes to buy. Foreclosed homes, brought about by the poor handling of loans, are a reality, but they are a very small percentage of the total market. Trying to “time” the market is just about impossible………..just as it is impossible to “time” the stock market. But buying now and holding on to your property over a 3-5 year time has been a good investment in the past, and it will continue to be a good investment in the future.
My advice is to act now so you don’t regret not having bought in the future.
Brought to You By Your Favorite Realtor, Nancy Hankin www.PalmSpringsHomesAndEstates.com
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