Dear Friends,

If I back away from the calendar, way far away, I can see the reality of realty. (Quite the turn of phrase, right?) Looking back, I am heartened to find there were only a total of seven years in the past 73 when the median housing price actually went down! (See the chart below for the details.)

Boy, did this chart give me some comfort recently! Matt and I have been on the hunt to invest in some more real estate this year. However, we are no longer in our 20s. We don’t have as many decades spanning out before us in which to correct a wild real estate gamble, and we definitely have a bit of PTSD from the 2007-2011 downturn. Living through a financial downturn can affect the way all of us look at the world.

Let me introduce Betty.

Betty is a wonderful woman in her 90s who recently lost her dear husband after 70 years of marriage. Betty’s next door neighbor Krystal Allison, of one of our EvoReal Realtors, often takes Betty grocery shopping because Krystal is that kind of friend.

A child during the Great Depression of the 1930s when the national motto was, Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without, Betty prefers to shop at a grocery store further from her home where, for example, she can save seven cents on a can of beans.

Betty knows all the tricks to save money. She lowers her heating bill a bit by leaving the oven door open for a while after taking out a casserole. She thrifts flannel sheets to make herself cozy pillowcases. Her thriftiness, instilled by parents who struggled through those years of scarcity, is second nature and has served her well.’

After the financial crash of the mid-2000s, during which so many people lost their homes, Americans went through what is considered to be the Great Recession. Many people have asked Matt and me if we have been seeing the tell-tale signs of that happening again. Of course, we have been asking ourselves the same thing.

Here is what we are finding:

We have been in a recession, but economists do not believe it is going to be anything like what we saw in the 2000s. That was a crash. This will be more of a “blip.” I hope that doesn’t sound flippant, but it has been a “normal“ recession, and in a normal recession there is a dip and then a recovery, a recovery we seem to be experiencing now.

Matt and I will always have the Great Recession, which was painful at the time, as part of our investment history, and as a result, we will be careful when investing and will always have a plan B…AND a plan C. Like Betty, we will always watch for the best deals, and we will keep our eye on what is happening in the market so we can avoid any unnecessary pitfalls.

Fortunately, right now, all key indicators show a strong recovery in the market, and economists say we are on the back side of the current recession.

You don’t have to take their word (or ours) for it though. Take a look at the attached chart and see for yourself. I think you’ll like what you see.

Three-Year Trends (Year over Year)

What does a computer think my home is worth? 🖱 Click to find out!

What does a HUMAN think my home is worth? ✉️ Contact us to find out.

*NEW* Area-Specific Infographics

If you have questions, please reach out to one of our team members. We would be happy to help interpret what these numbers mean for your unique situation —because every situation is unique. We hope this information is mega helpful! 🙂