Is it time to start investing in real estate again?
First positive sign, I am writing again. While I write that half-jokingly, there really has not been a lot to write about for the past six months. My previous advice was to take shelter and start researching the markets. Well, I have done that and I hope you have too. It’s just about time to put that great research to work.
Second positive sign, mortgage rates are still historically low and the media has begun to talk about a real estate recovery. Since the news outlets are always about six months behind the real estate market, I would assume we are probably at least six months into a modest real estate recovery. Low real estate prices and low mortgage rates create an excellent investing climate.
Third, mortgage rates are beginning to rise and there is substantial talk of a market recovery. As the economy recovers, expect mortgage rates to rise. Depending on the inflation indicators, we could see mortgage rates rise rapidly or we could see a gradual increase interest rates if it remains tame. Regardless, no one expects rates to get substantially lower, so if you can qualify for a mortgage (and that could be a big IF), it might be time to buy.
Expect more from me as I see a general market recovery. As one of the few real estate investors on this blog, I like to consider myself a slightly more objective analyst of the real estate market, as oppose to the perma-bull Jeff Brown. Agents should start contacting their investor clients now and investors should start contacting their mortgage brokers.
I have always loved 
Cathy and I watched The Path to 9/11 on television tonight. I had forgotten that we were in Metro New York for the Turn of the Millennium. My father lives in Connecticut, and we went there that year for New Year’s Day. The photo you see is my son crawling all over a bronze statue of a stock broker in Liberty Park, directly across from what was then the Merrill Lynch Building — on December 30, 1999. I lived in Manhattan for ten years, from 1976 to 1986. For quite a few of those years, I worked just across from Liberty Park, in the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. At the other end of that little brick park was the southeast entrance to the World Trade Center complex. I worked insane hours in those days, and, very often, when I got out of work, I would go sit at this tiny circular plaza plopped down between the Twin Towers. Not quite pre-dawn, still full dark, but completely deserted — and to be completely alone in New York City is an accomplishment. I would throw my head back and look up at the towers, the fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony running note-perfect through my head.
