Cycles: Seen them before, we'll see them again.
We have been through the cycles of the real estate market before , and we will go through them again. Right? We have seen the rise and the fall of the stock market many times, gold, oil ,copper, coal and any number of other markets and will see them again. Right?
When I trained traders on how to handle markets, the lesson was that nothing goes straight up, and nothing goes straight down, but we move and pull back, move and pull back. Everything is cyclical. Right? We have seen the meteoric rise of real estate, and at least in the residential markets a sizable decline. By my reckoning we are now due for a rise. Is that right?
Past Cycles and Fear
We saw it in the late 1980's and early 1990's, when the market pulled back, provided a buying opportunity, and then took off again. Lesson two that I would teach is that you would need to be a buyer when the lump in the pit of your stomach made it the hardest. When fear was the greatest and you were rushing in to buy as the sellers were running past you in the opposite direction. You need to buy when no one else is willing to buy. Is that where we are now?
The Present and The Future
There are some differences this time, primarily that it is not the asset itself that is the problem, but the financing mechanism. In the other real estate recessions we had supply and demand problems: that is to many properties and not enough buyers (although in some geographic areas like Florida and Las Vegas they have both problems). Now what we have is a crisis in the mortgage markets, that have caused even the most credit worthy borrowers to have an extremely diifcult time getting a loan.
We also now have huge institutional investors sitting on the sidelines with a ton of cash at the ready to jump in and buy, when they determine that the time is right. That is a good thing. We are in an extremely news driven environment, where at least at this point in time the news could not be darker. We have financial institutions like Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers among what will probably be others that are trading as if they appear to be the next in line for a Federal bailout. Is this that time when the bold will jump in? Some may, while other may wait.
The smart money will be buyers, at a time when hindsight says it was the perfect time. Others will get in after they are sure it was a market bottom, while others will be last to the new party and be left holding the bag in this new cycle.
The Moral of the Story
One thing is for certain. We are in the downside of the cycle, that will ultimately bottom at some point, the news cycle will turn suddenly bright, and many "smart" and "bold" people will make a great deal of money. When that is going to be is for smarter minds than me to determine, but one lesson from the past is true.
Real estate is not only location, location, location, but now more than ever it is going to be timing, timing, timing. And "those that cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it."
