Keeping Your Cool in the Midst of Fear Mongering

People always ask me "how is business?" or "how is the market?" I feel like many of them expect to hear that things are really slow when it is just the opposite.  God has provided so much business for me that I have not experienced a slow down.  While certain parts of the Greenville market have slowed down it is still a very healthy market to be in and actually a good market in certain areas.

I cannot emphasize enough that we must keep things in perspective. If you listen to most politicians and certain news media today, you would get the impression that our entire way of life is coming to an end and that no one is able to buy a home or get a mortgage. These fear mongers are using the problems caused by bad loans (which they caused!) to scare people and gain more power. This irresponsible behavior by media and politicians hurts the confidence of average people who think that they will not be able to get a loan because of everything that they have heard. I help people with the contract to close process every month and none of them have had trouble getting their loan to go through. I work with lenders who help many people buy homes in Greenville every week and they are ready to help anyone who is ready to buy. Some South Carolina elected officials are telling us that if certain legislation does not pass that you will not be able to get a loan beginning immediately.  At the same time these politicians and media are spreading fear, the lenders that I work with are telling me to bring as many people to them as possible that want to buy a home. They are ready to go! I have seen victims of the fear mongers this week. People who thought they would not be able to get loans anymore because of what they had heard on the news but after talking to a lender found out that it would be no trouble at all! Sure, there are those who cannot get a loan who could have a few years ago but these are people who should have never been given a loan in the first place and one of the main reasons for the mess we have now.

Again, we must keep everything in perspective.  If you listen to all the bad news you hear you might think that this would be a terrible time to be in real estate. Not the case. I would rather be in Greenville real estate in 2008 than in 2000! The number of single family homes sold in the Greenville area in August of 2000 was 531 with an average price of $142,206. Compare that with August of 2008 where we saw 689 homes sell with an average price of $195,153. Which market would you rather be in? I'll take 2008. I am eagerly awaiting the September numbers for the Greenville Area and interested to see how October shapes up as well.

While all of the bad loans of the last few years have created a very serious problem, we cannot loose our heads over the whole thing. We must deal with facts, not fear.

George Clements

Greenville SC Realtor

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