It would have to happen sooner or later. Someone has already coined a term for all of this pessimistic news that we are being bombarded with daily; “pessimism porn”. Psychologists have long held the belief that it is human nature to feel a sort of magnetic attraction towards gloom and doom.
The way I see it is, the more we allow ourselves to focus on the bad news, the more we blur our perspective with negative input. In Canada we now have an unemployment rate of seven per cent, not a good number. But what we fail to focus on is that 93 percent of us have jobs. Our glass is 93 percent full!
How is this changing our buying habits? Having been involved in residential real estate for more than two decades, I naturally focus a lot of my attention on the state of the real estate market. Sales in Toronto have dropped by close to 50 percent. However, neither of the most critical components necessary to sustain a healthy housing market – employment figures or mortgage rates – justify such a dramatic decline in home sales.
I do not know how long this recession will last, nor do I know how much more home prices will decrease – if at all. However, I do know that there are individuals and families buying homes under these market conditions.
I have written about this before. We are still seeing buyers paying the full asking price and in some cases more than the asking price, even under these market conditions!
So what’s going on? Are some of those buyers aware of something which the rest of us are not? I do not believe that this is the case. Perhaps instead, most of those who are still getting into homeownership are simply taking it all in good stride and refusing to join “the negative masses”. They are simply carrying on with their lives.
The sky has not yet fallen and I humbly believe it will not fall any time soon. Yes, it is going to be a bumpy ride. We should remember that by staying out of the market and watching from the sidelines while waiting for things to get better, we are all potentially contributing to our own demise.
If we all decided to simultaneously put all of our major buying decisions on hold, we might just create our own apocalypse and then truly have the sky fall on all of us.
Would love to hear your comments. Do you agree, disagree or have no opinion? Let us know.
Rosalin Smith-Carr is a Sales Representative with Royal LePage R.E.S. Ltd., Johnston & Daniel Division. Rosalin can be reached at rsmithcarr@sympatico.ca or visit www.primetorontoneighbourhoods.com
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Rosalin,
I completely understand you point of view to a certain extent. There is also a downfall to wearing rose-tinted glasses and turning a blind eye.
To me, doom and gloom news in the mass media is an indication to double your due diligence in research and education before making a purchase. Everyone should be basing their decisions on fact rather than media influence and anecdotal evidence (this goes without saying for all big decisions). Facts and data are a lot closer to telling the entire story. If your research gives you reason to believe that things will be “okay” then you should go with your own decision based on that. That’s the only way you can protect yourself from making the wrong decision. The media, internet blogs, your family, your friends will always give you advice based on their own reasoning but usually you’ll never see what it’s based on, firsthand. No one will hand you all the necessary facts on a silver platter either; nor can you trust them unless their prosperity is dependent on your prosperity. Trust yourself and trust your ability to make sound judgments in light of a good amount of facts. If you don’t have time to do the research then you’ll have to pay for an expert’s opinion their own research but you should base your selection of the expert on credible recommendations and proven accomplishments. Asking all the questions necessary to cover the angles would be able to help you in making the right decisions.
I won’t bother telling anyone reading this comment what they should be doing in this current environment. What I would tell them is that your home will be one of the biggest purchases you make in your lifetime. You need to do the research yourself instead of counting how many people you ask tell you to buy or not to buy.