Oct
10
Real Estate vs. Stock Market
Posted by Josh Schlesselman under For Buyers, For Sellers, For Realty Professionals, Regional News, Bailout, Virginia Beach
As we have all been witnessing over the last three weeks. The stock market has taken a tremendous hit. A reported 2 Trillion has been lost, possibly more, taken from everyone across the country that has money invested in 401K's, stocks, mutual funds, ect......
There are conflicting comments on the volitility of the stock market, some are saying it's a great time to get in, and others are saying to get out. Hedge Funds are some of the largest personal market investments out there, with minimum investment capital needed in the millions of dollars. It has been reported that 50% of all hedge funds have pulled out, which is one of the reasons we have see between 500-800 point drops in the DOW.
Personally, my opinion is that there is too much to risk in the stock market until we see some stability return, once that occurs, I would get in and ride the wave up, but as we can see now, it's like gambling on the craps table.
Commodities have been a safer bet. Things like energy, gold, silver and even real estate are types of commodities. Commodities are tangible items mainly. I personally have a hoard of gold and silver I'm holding onto just in case the dollar tanks and we temporarily return to the barter system or need to exchange it for other currency. Which by the way, shouldn't happen. I am still very optimistic about real estate, and it's not because Im biased being a Realtor, it's because I know that the real estate market is cyclical and it's a tangible thing that everyone needs and relies on. Everyone will need a place to lay their head and over the long haul, it will rebound and continue to appreciate, whereas, with stocks, you don't know if that company or particular stock will even be around in the next 5-10 years. Roughly about 30% of the stocks from the late ninety's to early 2000's are no longer in existence.
Real Estate must be a long term investment. Sure there are times in markets like we've just seen where you can purchase and flip to make good money, but you need to make sure that your in it for the long haul, and if the situation arises to where you can sell for profit, then take it! Don't buy into the media hype about real estate, the market is correcting itself. There are markets worse than others, but here in Hampton Roads, we have a fairly secure and stable market. If the media scares potential buyers from buying the surplus of listings out there, then it can be more detrimental for the correction period and take even longer for us to correct ourselves.
Main point of my topic is don't Panic! Continue to look for the good deals out there and just remember that if your getting a good deal in this market when we've seen decreases in prices of 2%-7%, then when the market does fully correct itself, you have just built in equity that you can hold for later purposes. Also, real estate is too important for our country to let fall to the wayside, every measure will be taken to ensure that real estate is fundamentally sound and secure. So, jump in, and get a good deal out there, there are plenty to look at and see, and call on me to help negotiate you the best deal.
You can check out my site at www.JoshSellsVirginia.com for more info and market updates.
