Perspectives in Real Estate Purchase

July 18th, 2007

That last post really was inspired not only by people that Livtopia reps have been picking up in Puerto Vallarta and in Mazatlan, but also by a few personal friends of mine. People with loads of money but who can not only not afford to buy a house, but worse, when they buy a house they can’t afford to live in it. I have a few friends who have been renting for 3 years with almost no hope of moving into the house they bought. Then again, I have other friends who visited Mazatlan and never planned to move there permanently, but who figure that years from now (or sooner), well, they just might. At least they have something.

I’m not a real estate person really, but reading more and more of the discussion going on out there, it does become pretty frightening. What follows is both an analyisis and an observation proffered in response to that at analysis.

First, from Mike Cook at BloodHoundBlog, really one of the most continually insightful real estate blogs out there:

On the positive side, the economy seems to be holding strong. This is reflected in the strong office market that has persisted despite a tighter financing situation. A bit more neutrally, interest rates are low historically, but are significantly higher than two or three years ago. This affects adjustable rate mortgage borrowers and borrowers who decide not to move because of the higher rates. Finally, the subprime lending situation, the tighter lending standards, and the supply of homes on the market make up the bulk of negative real estate factors.

That inspired this basketball-related response from the Real Estate Zebra.

You need to know the perspective of the person doing the analysis. Is this person a builder? an investor? a REALTOR? Where is the person located geographically? All of these questions help establish a person’s perspective. Once you can do that, you can look at their opinion through the prism of your own perspective.

Fair enough, and a good piece of advice for readers here. Livtopia’s perspective is from that of the Buyer’s Agent. You can read more about that here.

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