13 November 2008
Up Markets and Down Markets, When to Buy and Sell. (Part 4)
Posted by Ryan Coffey under: Buying; Uncategorized; When to Buy and Sell; selling .
A few weeks ago, I started to post a series where I explore some of the views/assumptions commonly held by people regarding how real estate markets work and what they mean to people who are buying themselves a home. The following is the fourth part of the series and intended to be read in the context of the rest of the series so I recommend reading the other posts to make this one make more sense.
Objection #4
“Aren’t the prices going to fall sharply because of all the foreclosures?”
Things are not falling sharply, nor are they expected to. You see, the government in Canada pays close attention to the lending practices here, much better than what we have seen in the U.S.. All that sub prime stuff? Not a Canadian problem. Period. As for foreclosures… what foreclosdures? If you were to take the time to look at the stats for foreclosures in British Columbia, you would find that the figures aren’t just low, but surprisingly low.
But don’t take my word for it, look it up for yourself. The stability of Canadian banking is something that has been bandied about in the media of late as well as in the more deeply informed circles of professionals who depend on their stability to make a living.
I like to ask a certain question to long time Realtors who have been in the business for a long time. By long time I mean 20, 30 or more years. I ask them point blank what sort of market they thought we’re in, in the big picture. Recently when I asked this, they all respond that they thought it was actually a pretty normal market. The fact that we had such an incredibly busy market recently makes anything different that follows pale by comparison.