Are Happy Days Here Again? Time Will Tell

This is purely anecdotal evidence with regard to any big turnaround locally, but I have been happy and a little surprised at how much luxury home buying and selling activity we have seen at our company in the last quarter of 2009.  Over the past week or so, agents at our company have been working on the following:

• 
  
• Buyers looking at homes up to $3 million
  
• Buyers up to $2 million
  
• New listing for $800,000
  

Needless to say, this would make for a phenomenal final quarter for us. 

As always, I get the same question many times each day, "So, how is the market doing these days?"  I'm never one to pull punches, so if things are rough, I say so.  These days, whenever I say that we've been really busy in the second half of the year, most people assume it's because of the much-talked-about tax credit for first-time buyers.  In our case, nothing could be further from the truth.  I have exactly ONE buyer that will benefit from the tax credit (the current one, not the proposed one).

With that in mind, it makes me hopeful for 2010 and beyond, as the economic indicators seem to be improving at last and the general vibe is a positive one.  As I've written before, perception becomes reality, so when people think the economy is getting better, they spend money and it happens.  The converse is also true.  When people are told that times are bad, they stay home and stop spending money.

As a quick example, I still remember the reaction of our clients after 9/11 happened.  They froze.  Our team closed one deal in the entire last quarter of 2001.  Was there less money at that point?  Nope.  Had any of our buyers who cancelled lost their jobs?  Again, no.  They were worried about the financial future of our country, so they stopped buying, at least for awhile.  Unfortunately, THAT is what made things truly bad, not the original source of the fear.

I never advocate lying when friends or clients inquire about the state of the market, but I do advise sharing success stories if you have them.  As economic news (hopefully) continues to improve overall, this could lead to increased consumer spending on many fronts, and we may just see a real recovery. 

Quick disclaimer: Although I minored in Economics in college, the stuff above is just my own opinion.

Thanks for reading!