Right now we’re going to talk about the cost of waiting.
Featuring:
Bob Nelson, Eugene real estate investment broker
Marcia Edwards, Eugene residential real estate broker
Marcia Edwards: Let’s talk a little bit about whether it’s a good time to buy or sell, or move real estate. The question is, will it be better later than it is now for either the interest rates or the price of homes? What do you think, Bob, on that question?
Bob Nelson: Well, that’s a really, interesting question, but cyclically, if you look back in time, I’ve only been involved in real estate, commercial real estate since 1968. I’ve been through five recession and I have watched recessions, what happens. Yes, every once in a while, the one in 2009 certainly was a a nice definition of can property values come down? Yes they can, but again, if you’re not ready to buy in the teeth of falling prices, I’d pack a lunch. That’s a Warren buffet move, buy when everybody else was trying to sell, and that’s a very wise move. But boy, you know, I watched prices come down. What if I buy today and I keep going down? That makes me look like the village idiot.
Marcia Edwards: Well, it’s really a longer term plan in a moment in time. You don’t have a bucket money or waiting for the day that things drop. It’s like the stock market. You’ve got to look at trends, you’ve got to look at long range planning. You’ve got to look at your personal portfolio and the timing for your life plan. Not so much the market that day.
Bob Nelson: That’s right. As we look at real estate, it’s an interesting thing. If you wait for perfect timing, you lose ultimately. If values, and let’s just say prices continue to go up, they blip down every once in a while, but if you continue to wait, all you’re doing is buying into a more and more and more expensive market, but you’ve lost time and time is a function of value.
Marcia Edwards: Well, what you’ve always shared with me is they’re not making any more of it in regards to the land. And that is, if you think about that, it’s a commodity that’s only got… You’ve only got so much of it. And think about our urban growth boundaries. We’re locked into a box where there’s only so much in that space that’s key, pivotal space for use. So with that, you’ve got a commodity that is going to become rare in those boundaries.
Bob Nelson: With rarity comes and demand of course comes an increase in value, a natural increase in value. So be careful in waiting. Right now is a great time to buy because interest rates are so low, you can afford to buy a lot more, because your cost of capital is very low.
Join Eugene, Oregon, real estate experts: Bob Nelson, Real Estate Investment Broker with Pacwest Real Estate Investments, and Marcia Edwards, Residential Real Estate Broker with Windermere Real Estate, daily at 5:30pm on KPNW for the “Real Estate Today” radio show.
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