February/March 2008           


My Perspective:

You may not view your home as a piggybank but your bank might. Depending on when you bought your house, today’s value may far exceed what you originally paid. Interest rates are down again. This is a perfect time to downsize, move to your ‘dream’ neighborhood or even purchase a vacation home.

Historically speaking, house prices have always been stable – under normal conditions houses increase in value 3-5 percent a year. But the last five years saw wildly fluctuating prices in real estate across the country. This ‘so-called’ Real Estate Bubble was fueled by demand for houses because of unbelievably low interest rates, relaxed mortgage lending rules (No-Money Down) and investors who fled the stock market in droves looking for quick profits in real estate. Real estate professionals knew that this market was unsustainable and the end would come. It has. Those get-rich quick days are gone. If you didn’t cash in on the rise then you missed the boat.

Is that such a bad thing? Not really. Everyone needs a place to live. The market we have today is normal for real estate. Real estate is, and always will be, a reliable investment because, as the saying goes, “God ain’t making anymore land”.

  • Expect a lull in the real estate market for the next six months.
    • This readjusting period will sort out the Get-Rich-Quick investors. If you are looking to buy a house keep your eye on the foreclosure market. Those ‘No-Money Down’ house loans are going to wreck havoc with lenders as buyers just walk away from their ‘dream’ homes.

  • If you are going to sell your house in the near future expect on marketing your property for 4-6 months.
    • Buyers now have the leisure of taking their time as opposed to the market of the past five years where houses sold in 1 day and buyers were outbidding one another to purchase. Those days are gone and not likely to come back.

    I can help you make sense of the real estate market. I have owned property since 1975. In those 32 years, I have seen interest rates as low as 4% and as high as 18%. I have seen house prices consistently rise despite recessions like the white-collar recession of 1989 when houses sold at unbelievably low prices because laid-off executives were scrambling to find new jobs.

    Real estate is a great vehicle to move forward into the future. I can help you find your ‘dream’ home, your favorite neighborhood, a lot for that longed-for log cabin or even an apartment building.

    I’m Robert Couperthwaite Principal Broker - Realtor®


    I know Real Estate!




    Disclosure: Our Company, Managing Broker and Salespersons do not engage in telemarketing sales activities utilizing telephone, fax, web messaging or e-mail solicitations.