I once heard the definition of a recession is when your neighbor loses his job and a depression is when you lose yours.  Obviously, anyone who has been in the Real Estate business for the last year knows that we have not been a recession – we have been in a depression.  That is easy to tell if you look at the number of transactions and prices.

Transactions are off by about 2/3 from the high of 2005 and prices are off any where from 25%-35%. 

There used to be an old Lucky Strike commercial that says “smoking more and enjoying it less”.  That is the way most Real Estate Agents have felt.  They are working twice as hard and making half as much.

Double Whammy

We have had a double whammy – we are making less off of each sale because prices are down and we are making less sales. 

Hope is around the corner – at least we hope so.  It is my opinion that 2009 will be the year of opportunity simply because there are so many good buys out there. 

I have lived through several slow downs in the economy in my 27 years of real estate.  Hind sight is always 20/20, but the people who bought when the sky was the darkest ended up the happiest on a sunny day.