Love's Real Stories

“To hear you tell it, the real estate market has turned the corner for good,” said my old friend Double D.

I had just been thinking about old Double D, and amazingly, I called him that same day. It’s eerie how coincidences happen like that.

“I don’t know about for good,” I said, “but definitely for the better.”

Double D has been around the block a few times, and he knows a thing or two about turning corners. His next statement made me think he might have gone around the bend.

“Listen,” he said, “we probably have seven to ten years of good times ahead. You think I’m right?”

I looked into my crystal ball, and it was foggy. I reached for my Magic Eight-Ball, flipped it over, and saw words floating in the murky interior: It is certain.

“Sounds right to me,” I said.

“So houses are selling as fast as you’ve been bragging about lately?”

“Yep. All brag, no fact,” I said. “Wait. I mean… the other way around.”

“You mean no fact, all brag?”

“Yes. I mean, no. I mean…. Wait! Let me just tell you what’s going on, okay?”

“Okay,” said Double D. “Just asking.”

I untangled my tongue, and gave him the low-down:

The fact is, inventory is really low in the real estate market, and buyers are really high. In number, that is.

The fact is, when a property comes on the market, if at least two or three offers aren’t written within two or three days, something is wrong.

The fact is, interest rates are so low, everyone who could be a buyer should be a buyer, and more and more are realizing it every day.

The fact is, when demand is high, prices go higher, and eventually, so do interest rates.

“And,” said Double D, “when interest rates and prices go up, affordability goes down, knocking buyers out of the race. But like you said, the market has turned the corner for good.”

“Right. I mean, I did?”