A House Still Needs to be a Home

David Warren — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:25:00 GMT

I'm still amazed that years after the beginning of the mortgage meltdown many buyers haven't wised up that a primary home has a purpose other than get rich scheme.

At the turn of this new millennium home values rose at record rates. Interest rates were at historic lows and supply was short causing a pandemic rush on homes that can only be compared to a special toy shortage at Christmas. Buyers used the logic that "If I don't buy now I'll never be able to afford a home" or a new one, so they signed on the dotted line in without thinking. Those that seemed fortunate enough to buy were then skimming off their "instant equity" as prices to continued to rise, and patting themselves on the back in honor of their investing genious.

I could go on all day about how the real estate system failed, about preditory lending practices, quick-talking real estate agents, construction over building, artificially held low interest rates, a bad economy, and just plain bad judgements made by panicing buyers, but what I bothered me the most was that buyers stopped buying a house to be a home. And now years later many of the buyers that are courageous enough to buy are still buying for the wrong reasons.

As a real estate agent I never have a problem getting a conversation going at a social gathering. Everyone wants to know how the "market" is doing. I get inidated with questions like "Has the market bottomed out?" or "Is now a good time to buy?" What they are really asking is "can I expect home values to start going up?"

Admittedly there are a lot of "good real estate deals" out there right now. With so many short sales, foreclosures and bank owned properties those that are buying now can get a house for 30+ perecent less than what many others paid just three years ago. Sadly most buyers still seem more concerned about getting a good deal financially than they are about what they are buying.

Rarely do I get new clients asking me questions about quality of neighborhoods, building materials used, school data, parks and local amenities. We'll not at first anyway, I do my best to educated my buyers that there is so much more to a good home investment that some "instant equity" Until buyers get back to looking at their home as a long term living arrangement and investment I doubt that the real estate market will ever go back to a normal.

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A House Still Needs to be a Home