Realtors stalk houses,only when they must
Did you happen to catch the column on house-stalking a few weeks
ago? House-stalking occurs when a person enters into a
more-than-friends relationship with someone else’s property. I must
confess. I have been guilty of serious house-stalking in the past
few days. And, to make matters worse, it hasn’t been just one
house. But let me explain.
Realtors stalk houses,only when they must
Did you happen to catch the column on house-stalking a few weeks ago? House-stalking occurs when a person enters into a more-than-friends relationship with someone else’s property. I must confess. I have been guilty of serious house-stalking in the past few days. And, to make matters worse, it hasn’t been just one house. But let me explain.
I have just spent three days at Tempel Farms, a Lipizzan breeding, training and performing complex located outside of Chicago. I was there for the annual United States Lipizzan Registry symposium held in the guest house of the property.
Don’t you just hate it when someone’s “guest” house is nicer than your “real” house? Nonetheless, think thick wood floors, polished over time to a dark, dull gleam. Think huge rooms with expansive windows overlooking miles of thick green pasture broken by angular lines of white wood fence and the occasional line of oak trees. Think high ceilings of carved wood beams. Think white walls covered by art celebrating the Lipizzaner. Think antique furniture, useful in design and beautiful to behold. Out back envision a beautiful pool and patio.
Hmmmm. Whoa, doggies! Join me for a little stalking at www.tempelfarms.com/guesthouse.html.
But the house-stalking adventures do not end there, for surely you know that the Chicago area is the lucky recipient of the majority of houses and buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, he is probably the most beloved and celebrated American architect. His work is astounding.
He created an entirely new design vocabulary for the world, that of organic design. He believed using the natural connections between the site, the materials and the needs of the client created perfect living and/or working spaces. A good example of this is Fallingwater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater). But it is impossible not to stalk the Robie House in Chicago or Wright’s former house and studio in Oak Park.
Okay, so this is a dangerous area for potential home-stalkers like me. It soothes the soul and seduces the eyes. The weather cooperated by being in the high 70s with low humidity. But I knew this to be smoke and mirrors. While an architectural graduate student at the University of Michigan, I experienced cold so bitter it watered my eyes and froze the tears immediately. I remember well, 30 years later, car locks requiring heat to become operable, the gray sludge of old snow, heavily salted, staining boots and eating away the bottom of every car. Some memories never fade.
Coming to Chicago was an adventure in itself. Instead of taking a don’t-bring-liquids-and-take-off-your-shoes airplane, I took Amtrak. Such fun to make one’s way up through the foothills to the Sierra Nevada, chugging down to the desert and back up to the Rockies, clicking across the plains for miles and miles over tracks in golden fields of corn snaking through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. There is time to see and admire and experience, to savor and satiate the senses with the sights and smells and sounds of America. And one can catch up on the small town news at each whistle stop, or Toot and Scoot as the Amtrak conductors call it.
Guess what? San Benito and Santa Clara are not the only counties noticing a downturn in the real estate market. Who knew? One of the hardest hit places (or at least complaining the loudest) is the Las Vegas market. During the boom investors had rushed in like lemmings, snapping up condos and cabins and castles, gambling in the casino of life. When the market corrected, they found themselves upside down in their holdings. But because so many had gotten in with no money down, they had nothing to lose (except face and a credit rating) by packing up and slipping out of town on the rails. Lots of developments are standing partially empty.
Take note: Now is the time to buy. “Are you nuts?” you ask. Perhaps, but that’s another story. In this case, I am not nuts. Hear me out.
Several key economists believe the mortgage rates will fall soon to counteract the triple-whammy effect (No, I don’t believe that’s a technical economic term!) we are experiencing: The construction industry has stalled; There is no equity available to be tapped for improvements, education, etc.; The lenders have cracked down on lending requirements. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, has indicated he will do nothing to bail out industries in distress due to bad business practices but that the institution is on the ready to act to limit broad economic harm to the nation at large.
So should you wait to buy when the rates go down? No, because that’s when the rest of the herd will stampede and you’ll lose your competitive advantage. Create a relationship with your banker and your broker and you will be able to shift seamlessly into a lower-rate mortgage at the appropriate time.
Real estate markets change over time. Historically cycles last seven years. So buy now, hold tight, and you’ll be sitting in the catbird seat…on a train headed to a fabulous house you’ve been stalking for years.
Be kind to your Realtor.
