Due to level real estate values, declines in the stock market and commercial real estate market woes, more real estate investors and traders than before are beginning to batten down the hatches for an “extended pause” in the U.S. economy as a whole as well as the housing market[1]. While optimistic analysts and the federal government’s PR team are calling the slowdown in the economy as a whole – and the still-high unemployment numbers – a “soft patch,” more and more experts are saying that “wage growth” is vital to the return of serious power to the economy, meaning that until there are more jobs, a serious, sustained recovery is simply not possible.
Furthermore, the potential expiration of the Bush tax cuts and election-year uncertainty as incumbents on both sides face angry, disillusioned voters and new competition are keeping companies with the potential for expansion uneasy. All of this information sounds grim, but it also sounds like now is the time for investors to start powering up. How are you dealing with the current uncertainty? Have you taken action to start buying properties while the getting is good and if not, what signal are you waiting for? Do you think a “pause” is better than a “decline” or not?
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[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704540904575451833218176188.html
