People who are buying real estate are not, for the most part, buying with a quick flip in mind anymore, according to a survey released yesterday by the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) and the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR)[1]. In the survey, a positive score indicated optimism about a concept, while a negative score reflected pessimism about a concept. The survey focused on respondents in the New York state area, but is believed to be widely applicable.

While in general, the sentiments of homebuyers and sellers are negative (-25.4), opinions about the future are more positive. Most do not want to buy and sell a home today, essentially indicating that there is a negative perception toward flipping, but when the future is factored in sentiment becomes much more positive, ranging from 10.1 to 21.1 depending on the area of the state. All of the scores on future real estate have climbed since the last time the survey was conducted.

While the overall tone of the survey is pretty negative, it does indicate that buying and holding is likely the trend to look for in coming months in real estate investing. As analysts predicted at the end of last year, fewer people are getting involved in real estate right now because of negative sentiments. Donald Levy, SRI’s director, said that “consumers continue to give real estate a poor current grade, but remain convinced that improving conditions are on the way” in a local press release. And now is a good time to get involved in real estate because many people are steering clear until those improved conditions arrive. How have you taken advantage of the mass exodus from real estate to improve your own investing status?

Thank you for reading! Your comments and questions are welcomed below.

[1] http://www.tgbbj.com/Channels/Technology/tabid/162/itemid/13811/sourcemid/477/Real-estate-poll–consumers-still-say-buy-now-sell-later/Default.aspx?returnUrl=%2FChannels%2FTechnology%2Ftabid%2F162%2FDefault.aspx