Foreclosures - where are they?
The media loves installing fear, promoting negative stories to sell more products.
As one of the top REALTOR®s serving our CatTrax community, I am very blessed with the number of existing and future homeowners I partner with on a daily basis. In the vast majority of my client interactions, the topic of “Strong Buyers Market” never seems to take long to enter the discussion and most dream of securing a foreclosure at penny’s on the dollar. After all, is this not what we all hear in all channels of the media 24/7? The media loves installing fear, promoting negative stories to sell more products. We constantly hear more people losing their jobs, owing more than their house is worth, behind on payments, etc…
On April 23 of this year, Dave Ramsey held a Town Hall for Hope Meeting via the web, which literally connected over 6,000 locations to his live event on Oklahoma City. It was very refreshing to hear a respected public figure deliver the true facts about our economy and our housing market. Check out, http://www.TownHallForHope.com to see them yourself. Regarding foreclosures, did you know that:
• 50% of United States foreclosures in 2008 came from 35 counties in 12 states. (USA Today)
• 20% of the United States’ population lives in these 35 counties. (USA Today)
• Eight counties in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada were the source of 25% of foreclosures. (USA Today)
• Existing home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.7 million units in February, 2009, and only 860,000 homes were repossessed all of 2008. (AP)
In addition, it was interesting to see these facts about posted on the site about The Great Depression and Recent Recessions:
• 1938–40: Unemployment grew to over 17%, the Stock Market dropped 89%, and bread lines were real; executives didn’t fly Gulfstreams to Washington, D.C. looking for bailouts. (Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970. U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1975)
• 1974: The Stock Market dropped 50%, gas lines snaked around the block, and inflation became stagflation, i.e. inflation in a stagnant economy.
• 1982: Inflation was over 10%, unemployment was over 10%, and the interest rate reached 17% on home mortgages. (http://www.miseryindex.us; Freddie Mac)
• 2009: Unemployment is at 8.5%, there is no inflation, and the home mortgage rate is 4 3/8%. The Stock Market dropped 57%, but it has recently risen from a low of 6400 to over 8000. (U.S. Department of Labor; http://www.usinflationcalculator.com; Yahoo Finance)
As Dave Ramsey says, “Fear is the Enemy of Hope!”
If you are looking to buy a home, wishing to sell or interested in the $8,000 home purchase tax credit, call Mark Gipple at 816-892-3550 or e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Feel free to visit Mark Gipple on the web at http://www.WelcomeToKC.com.
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