Pam Ghanaati

OK, so I kind of took that line from the play, "Oklahoma!". But it's the truth, especially in these times of attention-grabbing headlines about rising foreclosures and falling home prices. As Realtors and investors have always known, all real estate is local. So now the secret is out: just because the East and West coasts and some other high cost areas have seen huge decreases in prices of late does not mean that the whole US real estate market is taking a nosedive. Quite the contrary is true! In the state of Oklahoma, home values have increased by 4.2 percent in 2007, nearly as strong as our record years in 2005 and 2006. And in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, home values have increased by 4.68 percent in 2007. And this is the fifth year in a row that the average home price has risen. Now I don't call that any kind of collapse in our real estate market. So, Okies, stand up and be proud...and go out and buy a home! Owning a home is still the best financial investment you can make, especially here in Oklahoma.

Home value increase amounts taken from Oklahoma City Metropolitan Association of Realtors Newsletter, April 2008.

The housing market is in a slump, The mortgage market is a mess, The whole economy is in trouble. Sounds like today's headlines, huh? I'm asking you to take a minute to step back and look at these headlines again. You've heard the saying "Sex sells", well so does negativity. I don't know why but it seems it's in our human nature to like to read and hear negative news stories. Or at least that's the theory the media operates on. When you read or hear these headlines, look and listen carefully. The biggest slumps and messes are on the coasts; places that saw the biggest, most insane increases in the real estate markets. Of course, a correction had to be made. And that's all we're really seeing is a correction in these overinflated markets. Here in Oklahoma, we have had the normal seasonal slowdown. Ok, maybe a little slower than normal, but nothing to make headlines. And the mortgage mess is directly related to these overinflated prices and the bet that the mortgage lenders and buyers made that the prices would keep increasing. Again, that's not our local market. We didn't have many of those "hybrid" interest only ARM loans. We have a good economy. We have a great housing market! You get so much more for your money in our market. So if you have been thinking about buying a new home, now is the time to buy!