Ignore indecipherable housing data

     Toby Tobin, an astute Florida-based real estate blogger, has some interesting thoughts about housing data in a post he just published at his web site, GoToby.com.  His contention is that it is becoming a major challenge to make any sense of sales reports nationally or even locally given all the “noise” in the markets (“noise” is my term, not his).  With banks’ ever-changing lending criteria, the unprecedented numbers of foreclosure-susceptible properties, the expired home purchase tax credit that was in effect last year but is now expired, and the uncertainty over what Congress will do about the so-called Bush tax cuts, reading much of anything into national sales data may be a fool’s errand.

        I also wonder, “Why bother?” thinking about national sales data.  It is irrelevant to our own personal situations.  If you have a game plan to buy golf community property, either as a second-home or permanent home, your schedule and requirements should govern how you proceed.  With

few exceptions, prices will either rise, fall or remain steady pretty much across the country.  If you wait for the value of your current home to rise before you make a move you have planned to make, then the price of your future golf home will probably rise too (maybe a little faster, since the baby boomer demographic still wants to move south).  If you think your future golf community home may drop further in price and you are waiting for that, chances are good that the value of your current home will drop too.  In short, trying to time the housing market is about as easy as timing the stock market, which is to say it isn’t (easy).

        In general, the cost of living in the south is lower than in the north and far west.  A move to the south at any time is likely to save you money every year into the future.  Ignore what the housing pundits say about where the market is going.  Get on with your life.

        You can read Toby’s post by clicking here.