With an impending triple dip in the real estate economy, the overall American economy should be looked at from a more macro level to understand how a recovery is even possible. As talking heads on tv claim a recovering economy, perception shifts toward optimistic from a national standpoint, but calling it a recovery is misleading.
The national economy isn’t like the real estate economy where in a hyperlocal sense if people get tired of being scared, they bend over. No, the national economy weighs heavily on overall production (not to mention geopolitical moving parts) and news analysts can say “recovery” all they want, but look at all of these charts from the Washington Post (*take special note on the chart that is highlighted) and tell me if you think we’ve recovered:
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As a Realtor, you’re expected to have a grasp on the overall economy, not just your local corner of the woods. If everyone saw the mortgage crisis and now the foreclosure crisis coming, it wouldn’t have reached crisis status. Why did so many not see it? Because so many people are devoted to their tiny neck of the woods (as they should be) and couldn’t see an overall picture. It’s an unfair reality that agents on the ground are supposed to know every nook and cranny of a street yet be national economic forecasters as well.
It boils down to what AG author Fred Glick has been screaming from the mountaintops here and on CNBC for two plus years now… the overall picture currently is that employment rates must come up and when they do, that alone will spell a recovery. No jobs = no loans = no house buying = no Realtor pay day.
To see the charts animated, visit the Washington Post.
