Here’s a quote that may sound familiar…
NWMLS director Joe Spencer, president of John L. Scott, Inc. described current conditions as the “Buy Zone” and “the perfect buyer’s market.” Looking at the housing market graphically over the past 25 years, it’s evident there are periods when conditions make it the perfect time to buy a home, he explained. “The numbers show the housing market typically has a six to seven year boom, followed by a two year decline. This decline represents an ideal opportunity to buy because homes can be purchased at a premium value – and that’s exactly what we’re experiencing in the Puget Sound region,” Spencer stated. Combine this with low interest rates and a healthy supply of homes to choose from and you have yourself the perfect buyer’s market,” he added.
Pretty much what we’re hearing most real estate salespeople say today, right? Only, this quote is from November 2007, just four months after prices peaked here.
If you bought in late 2007 based on claims like this from the NWMLS and its members like Joe Spencer that the market was “reviving,” you would have lost an average of 21% of your home’s value (so far). If that’s the result of “the perfect buyer’s market,” I’d hate to see what things look like in a less than ideal market for buyers.
The purpose of our
Friday Flashback series is to remind people why it’s never a good idea to base your home purchase decisions on the word of someone with a vested financial interest in selling as many homes as possible for as much as possible, no matter what. If you’ve got a good example of local home salespeople or other industry shills on record making fools of themselves in the years before the bubble burst,
shoot me an email.