Jim Mulleady

Have you ever seen more negativity?

Negative Obama ads. Negative McCain ads. Negative stories on real estate. Negative stories on Wall Street. Negative stories on the 24 hour news cycle. Negative, negative negative.

Is it any wonder that things are going, well in the negative direction?

A bit more positive from everyone please. I know its hard, but try.

Heard this one: "I want to buy at the bottom."

I suppose I can be a smart guy and say that I have no town, county, neighborhood or lake named the bottom.

The real estate market is not unlike the stock market in that the rules of buy low and sell high still apply. Likewise, you should never try to time the market.

The answer I like to give is "if I call you and tell you that the bottom is here, will you believe me?" I won't know that the bottom has occured until the market has stopped dropping and has already begun to rise. No one else will know either. Since I work in a second home/recreational market, the buyers can often move quickly. Those that don't, lose.

What else happens after the market bottoms out? Demand increases, supply decreases, interest rates (generally) will increase with increased demand. Why not take advantage of a weak market?

Its a great time to be a buyer!

Whatever your politcal persuasion.

Please have your candidate refrain from drooling over my vote. Also, please stop promising the moon, stars, and the rest of the galaxy.

Senator Obama, I don't believe you and your party's allegations that Senator McCain is going to reduce Medicaid, Medicare or any other "aid".

Senator McCain, I don't believe you and your party's allegations that Senator Obama is going to turn this country into a socialist paradise.

I really will vote for the first candidate that acts as an adult. I happen to know that the government cannot fix all of this country's problems. I also know that there is plenty of blame to go around for our current situation. I saw Allen Greenspan actually apologize for not seeing this coming. That was refreshing. He said that he messed up in that he trusted the banks to watch out for their investors. Wouldn't it be nice if others, politicians and non-politicians if they actually took some responsibility for their actions (or inactions)?

The candidates should be saying things like, "America you messed up. You borrowed and consumed until you could not afford to pay any more. You are going to take your medicine. You cannot borrow or consume for X months. You will learn to live within your means." Instead, we get "I'll fix it or I'll fix it better than the other guy". Are we all that gullible to think that they will? Do we even want the government to fix it?

What is my point? Please copy some of the promises that are being made now and show them to your candidate 2-4-6 years from now. Its too late for this election but in the next election, please demand that your candidates actually act as adults.

As for me, I plan to vote for the candidate that promises less.

"When you were born you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die the world cries and you rejoice." Native American Saying

There are those who doubt the real estate market. I will admit to you that there certainly is volatility in the Northwoods' real estate market at this time. By most measures, volume is down approximately 35-40% in 2008 from 2007. In contrast, values have not fallen.

Previous postings will point out that the values remain somewhat stable from MLS data. My theory here is that most Sellers are affluent enough to ride out the storm. Buyers, on the other hand, are looking for a "deal". I will admit that most sales that are coming together are "deals" from motivated sellers. This may ultimately result in values coming down.

An example I will give to you is a recent sale on the Eagle River Chain. It was on the market for over a year at $449K. The Seller took it off and repriced it down to $425K. It sold very quickly at that price. It was a "rough" cabin but on a picture perfect lot. I think that this 5% reduction is indicative of the Northwoods' market.

Do I believe that there will be more reductions? Yes, Do I think the reductions are going to be greater than 20%? No. I think they will be more like 5-10%. Do I believe that Northwoods' lake property is overvalued? I would compare our lakes area with northern Michigan's, Minnesota, Maine and when I compare our values, I think we compare well. When I compare it to Montana, northern Idaho or Lake Tahoe, we are much less expensive. Make no mistake, we do compete against these areas. I have several buyers and sellers from California. I have one buyer from Singapore.

With all of the negativity about real estate in the news, it actually is an area of relative stability when compared with Wall Street. Its not as liquid, but it is more stable.