Has It Been This Long?

Has it really been almost 3 months since I've posted anything here? I can't believe it. Well, since I last posted I've taken a 2 1/2 week vacation to New Hampshire in late May and early June and I discovered one thing while there. Their economy may be better than it is here in the State of Michigan, but they're having the same problems real estate wise that we are here! They just started a little later than we did. Our real estate "free fall" began in the summer of 2005. Theirs began about a year later. I also sense that Michigan will be the last out of our real estate problems, when compared to the rest of the country.

I keep reading and watching and listening to reports which say the country will pull out of it's economic problems in 2009. Even economists here in Michigan are saying the same thing about the State economy. I doubt that however, so I'm telling folks plan on the rebound coming in 2010! I realize that's a long wait, but it's going to take that long to clear out all of the housing inventory that's currently for sale in our area. It won't be an easy stretch, but we have bottomed out in my opinion. But right now, we're just sort of meandering around on level ground, not going up, home values wise and not dropping fast, either.

As for when your house will be worth what it was say, in 2004, you've got a long wait. Once this housing crisis turns around, don't expect your home to instantly jump in value to where it was 4 years ago! No, it will take 5 to 7 years to recover the value that your home lost. So if Michigan starts to come out of this slump in 2010 and your home was worth $200,000 in 2004, expect it to be worth $200,000 again in 2015! After that, don't expect the 4% to 6% rise in home values per year that we had in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Growth will be at a more modest 2% or so per year. Them's the cold, hard facts as they say. That's MY opinion and I'm sticking to it!!!

Happy rest of the summer!