Living in Michigan I know homes are selling for less and the Big Three is looking for financial help. However, are things really as bad as the press tells us? Do you think they make things sound worse to get more readers and more viewers? I remember as a kid my mom saying "misery loves company" and "bad news travels fast" now I know why.
So how bad are things and should we believe everything the press tells us. Remember the election? It seems like light years away now but look at all the bad press each candidate received. Turn on Fox News you hear one thing, turn on MSNBC you hear another. You never knew who to believe. Funny thing is now they both are telling the same story.
- Banks are not loaning money to small businesses - we're a small business and we got a loan
- Credit card companies are reducing credit limits - they just increased our limit on a few cards
- No one is getting a loan to buy a home - we have had 11 closings this quarter and 1 to go
- Credit card companies are raising interest rates - we just opened a zero interest credit card
- The big 3 are not selling cars because no one can get a loan - we know people who bought cars
We hear the press tell us things are really bad but that's not what we always see. Recently my brother called and asked if we were closing on the homes we sold"? I said Yes, why do you ask ? He proceeded to tell me that he had just attended a meeting where several economists and analysts were saying the banks are not giving loans so no one can buy a home. Now my brother works for a large company that sells financial products. Why do you think they are telling them this? Did they just listen to the media too?
Obviously, they are not getting there information from Macomb County. Folks here missed the news reports because every weekend the restaurants have a 30-40 minute wait. Yesterday the parking lot at Costco was so packed I had to park in the last row. Thank God I need to lose weight and like walking. Last week we waited for 15 min to eat lunch at Olive Garden on a Tuesday afternoon at 1:00pm? Let me tell you it was not filled with people on their lunch hour. They say homes are not selling - well this quarter Macomb county had 2845 closings compared to last year during the same period when we had 2442. Yes, some are having trouble but no all.
Now we can all continue to listen to the Bad News Bears and think the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Or we can turn off the negative press and do as Jim Carrey does in Yes Man and use the power of Positive Thinking. I prefer the later. How about You?
Amen! (I can't add anything else by way of a comment - you covered it all wonderfully in your post!)
Real Estate is so local, it is hard to listen to national news report the bad. Credit Unions have plenty of money to lend if you have a client who can't get normal financing.
We had one client that wrote an offer on a new house in a new sub, only 25% finished. We could not get them a loan because the sub is ONLY 25% finished. They had above 700's credit scores.
Now how do they expect the homes to be built and fiinished out if they won't loan to people to buy those spec houses.
Thanks Kris - still getting used to KW after your name
Missy - had a similar situation but it was a site condo and FHA - I said the same -How do you expect to sell them - my solution - Deep Breath positive thoughts repeat again