I’ve been looking for a way to explain to my buyers that now is a great time to buy (I know – does a real estate agent ever stop saying this?), but I’ve held back for a few reasons.  First, I don’t actually know what is going to happen to the economy in the next month, year or decade.  And second, I didn’t live through the Great Depression and I wasn’t really paying much attention during the past few recessions.  Basically, my prediction skills are lacking.  So, as with anything else that I don’t know much about, I’ve done some research.

As I was reading through the real estate blogs that I read everyday (see column on the right), I came across Greg from BlueRoof.com’s blog entry about Warren Buffett’s opinion article in The New York Times.  Basically, Buffett tells us what we all know – buy low, sell high.  But he puts it in a way that makes it easier to understand during these times of confusion. He also talks about the stock market specifically, but his advice can be useful in real estate as well. From the article:

“What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.”

What is the lesson here? Right now, prices are low (hint: that is when you buy).

Photo Credit:  woodleywonderworks via Flickr

For weeks we have all sat around listening to talk of a 700 billion dollar “Wall Street Bailout.”  Why Wall Street and why $700 billion, we all asked.  Nobody seemed to know.  The plan wasn’t passed…then it was…but it was different…the Dow is down 777 points…up almost 1000 points within a few days.  What is going on?

I didn’t know either.  In fact, I was very much against the bailout plan when I first heard about it and somewhat relieved when it didn’t pass the first time.  Then the second version passed and I didn’t know what to think.  None of the news sites or other trusted resources had any answers.  Then Ira Glass came in and explained everything.

Remember my blog post about the mortgage crisis?  Well, the “This American Life” radio show has done another episode in which they explain the bailout plan – what it is, why we need it, and how we got in to this mess in the first place.  You can  listen to the show here.

It is about an hour long show and it is definitely worth listening to.