Monday, August 15, 2022
Chuck Marunde, J.D., Broker/Owner 360-775-5424


iRealty Virtual Brokers


Broker/Consultant

Washington State

SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Search MLS
    • Sequim MLS
    • Sequim MLS Map Search
    • Port Angeles MLS
    • Port Townsend MLS
    • San Juan Islands MLS
    • All Islands MLS
    • How to Search the Sequim MLS
  • Videos
    • Sequim Videos Q&A
    • Buyer Videos Part 1
    • Buyer Videos Part 2
    • Buyer Videos Part 3
    • Buyer Videos Part 4
    • Living in Sequim Video Channel
  • Books
    The Coming Real Estate Crash

    The Coming Real Estate Crash

    The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

    The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

    Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

    Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

    Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

    Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

    Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

    Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

    7 Myths of Selling Your Home

    7 Myths of Selling Your Home

    Buying Your Retirement Home

    Buying Your Retirement Home

    The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

    The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

    Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

    Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

    24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

    24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

    Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

    Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

    Buying and Selling Real Estate

    Buying and Selling Real Estate

    Trending Tags

      • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
      • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
      • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
      • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
      • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
      • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
      • Buying Your Retirement Home
      • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
    • Agents
      • Professional Buyer’s Agent
      • Flat Fee Listing Broker
    Tetralogy
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Login
    • Register
    • Home
    • Search MLS
      • Sequim MLS
      • Sequim MLS Map Search
      • Port Angeles MLS
      • Port Townsend MLS
      • San Juan Islands MLS
      • All Islands MLS
      • How to Search the Sequim MLS
    • Videos
      • Sequim Videos Q&A
      • Buyer Videos Part 1
      • Buyer Videos Part 2
      • Buyer Videos Part 3
      • Buyer Videos Part 4
      • Living in Sequim Video Channel
    • Books
      The Coming Real Estate Crash

      The Coming Real Estate Crash

      The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

      The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

      Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

      Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

      Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

      Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

      Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

      Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

      7 Myths of Selling Your Home

      7 Myths of Selling Your Home

      Buying Your Retirement Home

      Buying Your Retirement Home

      The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

      The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

      Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

      Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

      24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

      24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

      Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

      Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

      Buying and Selling Real Estate

      Buying and Selling Real Estate

      Trending Tags

        • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
        • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
        • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
        • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
        • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
        • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
        • Buying Your Retirement Home
        • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
      • Agents
        • Professional Buyer’s Agent
        • Flat Fee Listing Broker
      No Result
      View All Result
      iRealty Virtual Brokers
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home Buyer's Market

      What the Market Crash Taught Me About Real Estate

      Chuck Marunde by Chuck Marunde
      November 16, 2008
      Reading Time: 4 mins read
      0 0
      1

      The real estate market has taken a serious beating these past months, and the U.S. economy appears to be chaotic at best. I’ve been watching real estate cycles for 30 years, and I’ve learned four important lessons in this market.

      Lesson Number 1. The national real estate market has very little to do with a buyer’s opportunity to find the ideal home at a great price right now. Let me explain.

      Real estate news is a macro-economic perspective, while buying a home is a micro-economic decision. National news about housing inventory, foreclosures, and prices is all very interesting in the media and in the college classroom, but when John and Mary Smith are considering buying a home or building their retirement home in a new area, the national stats are irrelevant. Their decision is based on their personal goals, their credit score, their available funds, whether or not they must sell a house first, what kind of loan they can get, and a host of personal issues.

      If all signals are full speed ahead for John and Mary Smith, they are in the most powerful place and time that buyers have found themselves in decades. They can shop at their leisure, taking time to gather information on the Internet before they actually hire an exclusive buyer’s agent, and they can narrow their search as they walk through a dozen or so homes.

      Since the Smiths are the master of their own offer, they are in full control of the price and the terms of the offer. If they cannot come to terms with a seller (who may have had his house on the market for 256 days or more), they simply say, “Thank you very much. It’s been great. We will be making an offer on another house.”

      I have written elsewhere that it is important to make a distinction between the market and an individual house. That’s exactly what the Smiths will do. The state of the market plays out in their favor right now, but their decisions are based on the facts in their little world and the house they decide to buy.

      As I sipped a cup of hot gourmet coffee while walking around my yard this morning, I considered the state of the world economy, the U.S. real estate market, foreclosures and other disconcerting statistics, including my last five real estate commissions that went “poof.” Then I noticed a bee perched on a leaf and scratching himself. (I’m guessing the bee is a “he” and it appeared he was scratching his head, but there are many things in life I do not actually know. I’m only 54.) The bee was clearly unconcerned with the state of the economy or the number of days it takes to sell a home. The bee lives in his own micro-world, and I’m thinking macro-economics is not something at the forefront of his mind lately.

      Buyers can and ought to focus on their own world and their own real estate market in deciding whether now is the time to buy their next home. We’ve never been in a buyer’s market like this where buyer’s who have good credit or cash have so much power.

      Lesson Number 2. Don’t trust strangers with your money. If investors in the stock market, which includes the majority of retirees with 401(k)’s, have learned anything in this recent crash, it is that you should not blindly trust financial advisers or fund managers. I learned many years ago that “they don’t know what you think they know.”

      Lesson Number 3. A good investment in your home and in rental real estate, where you are not over leveraged and where you seek to be totally debt free (a novel concept today, but quite popular among our grandparents’ generation) is far more secure and safer than the roller coaster known as the stock market. Of course, you must buy right and hold for the long term, and practicing that effectively would mean that dips in the real estate market, even of the current magnitude, would not jeopardize your retirement plans.   [Read a series on Real Estate vs. the Stock Market.]

      Lesson Number 4. Find a professional in real estate who is truly knowledgeable and experienced to help you make your buying and selling decisions, and stick with that professional for life. I do not recommend that you retain any Tom, Dick, or Jane who got a real estate license as a part-time hobby. That would be like letting a stranger on Wall Street manage your 401(k), and look how that turned out.

      Chuck Marunde, J.D. is a retired real estate attorney, author, and exclusive buyer’s agent in the State of Washington.

      Last Updated on November 16, 2008 by Chuck Marunde

      Tags: Market Crashreal estate market
      ShareTweet
      Chuck Marunde

      Chuck Marunde

      Chuck grew up in remote Alaska, graduated from the University of Alaska with a degree in Economics and Teacher Certification, and after teaching high school for two years, went to law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He served four years as a Captain and JAG in the USAF at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. After practicing real estate law for 20 years in Washington, Chuck founded iRealty Virtual Brokers covering Sequim and the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. He is the author of 2,200 real estate articles and a dozen real estate books, and he produced over 100 real estate videos. Chuck combined his love for real estate and technology to create a massive Internet presence, and his articles and videos and books have been viewed by millions. Chuck is a well recognized real estate expert and his counsel is sought by other brokers and practicing attorneys around the country. Buyers from New York to Hawaii and from Florida to Alaska seek him out to retain him as their buyer's agent, and home owners around the State of Washington seek him out because of his new Flat Fee Listing Service. 

      Related Posts

      Sequim Real Estate
      Sequim Real Estate

      Massive Upgrades to Sequim Real Estate Blog

      August 11, 2022
      13
      Sequim Home
      Sequim Real Estate

      Is Sequim Always Sunny?

      August 11, 2022
      8
      Chuck Marunde
      Sequim Real Estate

      Sequim Real Estate Videos Organized in an EBook

      May 11, 2021
      3
      Sequim Home
      Sequim Home For Sale

      The Six Steps to Finding Your Sequim Home

      February 3, 2021
      3
      Real Estate Books
      Sequim Real Estate

      Real Estate Books

      August 14, 2022
      5
      Early Possession
      Sequim Real Estate

      When is Early Possession Safe for a Home Seller?

      January 5, 2021
      20
      Next Post

      What Documents Does a Buyer Need to Buy Real Estate?

      Dual Agency Can Cost You!

      Comments 1

      1. Hunt Real Estate.com says:
        14 years ago

        Your article on the Market Crash Taught Me About Real Estate is always useful for a newbie like me.

        Reply

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

      "I wish I read this before selling my
      home. I could have saved $50,000." Andy 

      Search 2,200 Articles by Category

      • Trending
      • Comments
      • Latest
      Buyer and Seller

      What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

      August 5, 2022
      10 Best Places to Retire

      Why is Sequim One Of The 10 Best Places To Retire?

      September 22, 2019
      Terminate a real estate contract

      How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

      December 31, 2020
      Prorate Propane

      How to Prorate Propane at Closing

      August 15, 2015
      print newspapers

      Print Newspapers Losing Readers to the Internet

      42
      FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

      FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

      31
      Buyer and Seller

      What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

      28

      What Documents Does a Buyer Need to Buy Real Estate?

      24
      Financing Contingency

      What does “The Financing Contingency Shall Survive the Closing Date” Mean?

      August 12, 2022
      Sequim Real Estate

      Massive Upgrades to Sequim Real Estate Blog

      August 11, 2022
      Subscription to iRealty Virtual Brokers Real Estate Blog

      How Do I Subscribe to This Real Estate Blog?

      August 11, 2022
      Sequim Home

      Is Sequim Always Sunny?

      August 11, 2022

      Subscribe to Chuck 
      Marunde's Newsletter

      Popular Stories

      • Buyer and Seller

        What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • Why is Sequim One Of The 10 Best Places To Retire?

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • How to Prorate Propane at Closing

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0
      • The Sequim Blue Hole – A Map of Rainfall

        0 shares
        Share 0 Tweet 0

      Leaving Comments   I hope you’ll join our community and leave comments from time to time. Please realize that comments, if approved, will be public, so do not use any personal information you don’t want broadcast to the world, and definitely don’t leave a phone number. Comments are not the place to ask Chuck Marunde for help in finding a home. To do that, call or text Chuck.

      Neither Chuck Marunde nor iRealty Virtual Brokers offers legal advice on this site. Please Read Our Legal Disclaimer

      If you’d like to view how we protect your privacy, see our Privacy Policy.

      iRealty Virtual Brokers

      iRealty Virtual Brokers reaches out to buyers around the United States with thousands of online articles, MLS sites, apps, real estate books, videos, and much more specifically to help buyers find all the answers to their questions. We also now offer a flat fee commission listing service that saves sellers tens of thousands of dollars.

      iRealty Virtual Brokers
      125 Olympic Ranch Ln
      Sequim, Washington 98382
      360-775-5424

      Search the entire NWMLS in Washington State:

      Sequim-Homes.com

      The largest independent real estate blog in the State of Washington with over 2,200 articles totally focused on our client’s best interest, their needs and their curiosity. All free and 100% reliable. I’m here if you need me, 

      © 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • Search MLS
        • Sequim MLS
        • Sequim MLS Map Search
        • Port Angeles MLS
        • Port Townsend MLS
        • San Juan Islands MLS
        • All Islands MLS
        • How to Search the Sequim MLS
      • Videos
        • Sequim Videos Q&A
        • Buyer Videos Part 1
        • Buyer Videos Part 2
        • Buyer Videos Part 3
        • Buyer Videos Part 4
        • Living in Sequim Video Channel
      • Books
        • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
        • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
        • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
        • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
        • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
        • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
        • Buying Your Retirement Home
        • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
      • Agents
        • Professional Buyer’s Agent
        • Flat Fee Listing Broker

      © 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password? Sign Up

      Create New Account!

      Fill the forms bellow to register

      *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
      All fields are required. Log In

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In
      This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.