The Housing Clock

In 2007, the bottom fell out. We all lost equity. We lost jobs. We lost money. We burned through savings. Our 401k’s got hammered.
It was not fun.

From a housing standpoint, for the most part, we just stopped. We all stopped buying, selling, moving, lending or pretty much anything else to do with real estate.
When we tried to sell, the offers that we got (if we got one at all) were very low with tons of strings attached. If it was a contingent contract, it was very unlikely to ever become non-contingent. The lenders took away almost all of the loan programs and on top of that, sought out reasons not to do loans that did comply, even for the most credit worthy of clients. It was very frustrating.

But as we enter into 2010, something has been happening behind the scenes that no one is really discussing. Everyday that we all spend not in our graves is a day we spend moving towards being incorrectly housed. Each and every day, there are babies born and children growing up and leaving the nest, people getting married or divorced, workers being transferred, promoted or taking a new job…sometimes better and sometimes worse. Likewise, each and every day we all get a little older meaning that the stairs we climb or the drive to medical care all becomes more important.

The recession did not stop these things from happening. It just prevented all of us from doing anything about it. Our financial clock stopped but our housing clock did not.

As we move forward, signs of economic life emerge, which makes us all feel that we can feel better/safer/more confident about our decisions. From a housing standpoint, we are coming into a market with more people in spaces that do not fit them than ever before…..and that is a good thing for housing.