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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: EL KABONG!!! who wrote (19418)	6/3/2002 4:59:08 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Kerry, your points are all well made. My home is in an old historical neighborhood with many very old homes that are quite beautiful. While mine has no historical interest, it is on a corner lot in the absolute heart of this old neighborhood and has curb appeal. Location, location, location and all that. There are few homes with a better location in the city. The supply of homes in this neighborhood is quite limited so the usual considerations like demographics and jobs available to prospective purchasers don't really apply. Even though the city is not doing all that well economically, the small supply of this type of housing ensures that there will be lots more buyers than sellers. I don't see that factor changing in any significant way in the future. If anything, it will increase as out-of-state buyers learn that beautiful old homes are available for prices significantly lower than those being paid for similar housing elsewhere. Who wants to live in a McMansion when great old houses with lots of space and beautiful gardens are available for amounts which compare favorably to those ugly brutes? As communications get even more sophisticated, and the wealthier folks in the work force are able to live anywhere they chose, I think we'll see this kind of selectivity. I've already seen glimpses of such a trend. I think that I'm going to stay put and wait for whatever happens to happen. While reflecting these points, I've concluded that the bubble will disinflate to some extent, but property in the area is in sufficiently low supply so that I think my equity is protected. Why not wait for all those tax-free gains to get bigger? Was thinking about these issues when I visited Carmel two weeks ago. Checked the real estate market there and was flabbergasted. Shocked to see nice but tiny Victorians with no ocean view with all of 2 bedrooms and 1 bath but no garage going for $550,000 and up. My grandfather was right--the world is getting uglier, and the beautiful places will soar in value.